Fears of a Palmer offload
The governmentappointed liquidators of Queensland Nickel are still in the dark as to Clive Palmer’s (above) personal fortune and claim there is a real risk the “cavalier” businessman is offloading assets. A hearing will take place in the Supreme Court in Brisbane next week to decide if Mr Palmer’s assets will be frozen.
THE government-appointed liquidators of Queensland Nickel are still in the dark as to Clive Palmer’s personal fortune and claim there is a real risk the “cavalier” businessman is offloading assets.
An affidavit filed in a Supreme Court case to freeze $200 million of Mr Palmer’s assets has revealed allegations the former self-claimed billionaire has failed to produce current evidence of his financial situation, despite a Federal Court order to do so.
Liquidators PPB Advisory say that instead, he has provided a dated parliamentary statement of his asset position from 2013 when he was elected to federal Parliament.
“It does not include a detailed description of Mr Palmer’s current asset position and merely lists, generally, his purported asset position as at 2013,” liquidator Stephen Parbery wrote in the affidavit.
“My concern … arises, in part, from my inability to procure from Mr Palmer a transparent, comprehensive and accurate recitation of his asset position.”
He added that Mr Palmer’s conduct as a director demonstrated a “habitually cavalier attitude” to his duties.
The affidavit raised fears the ex-politician’s assets were being offloaded – particularly given the recent $23 million sale of his Queen St headquarters – and less money would be available if he loses a lawsuit to claw back $300 million owed to creditors in the wake of QN’s collapse.
A hearing will take place in the Supreme Court in Brisbane next week to decide if Mr Palmer’s assets will be frozen. ■ Clive Mensink was emailing his uncle Clive Palmer’s personal assistant to organise yet another luxury cruise as recently as March this year, despite the looming threat of an arrest warrant.
The email trail has been revealed in Supreme Court documents as the governmentappointed liquidators of Queensland Nickel attempt to claw back $300 million for creditors and seek more than $100 million from Mr Mensink for allegedly breaching his duties as the company’s director.
Mr Mensink has been on multiple cruises since leaving Australia last June, and two warrants were issued for his arrest after he failed to turn up on March 27 to a Federal Court public examination into the collapse of QN.
Despite the warrants being flagged in February – when he claimed he was too anxious and depressed to front court – he forwarded an email from a US-based travel agent to Mr Palmer’s assistant Sarah Mole on March 9 asking her to “take over” plans for another overseas cruise.