Palmer sickie rejected
B EL EAGUERED b u s i n e s s - man Clive Palmer has failed to convince a judge he is too sick and “confused” after a gallstone operation to face questioning about the location of his nephew Clive Mensink.
Mr Palmer is scheduled to appear in the Federal Court today after trying to call in sick yesterday to a public examination into the collapse of Queensland Nickel with $ 300 million in debts and 800 job losses.
G o v e r n m e n t - a p p o i n t e d liquidators want to question him about the whereabouts of Mr Mensink, who is a former director of QN and has been on a luxury around- the- world trip since June.
Hours before Mr Palmer was to be in court yesterday, playful tweets appeared from a Twitter account under his name about federal politics and a new range of Peter Alexander ‘ Tim Tam’ pyjamas.
His case to delay giving evidence due to “severe pancreatitis” later unravelled when the court was played a recording of the ex- MP bragging about his good health and 60kg weight loss s on breakfast tele- vision.
“My blood pressure now is 125 over 70 and my resting heart rate it’s about 55,” he told presenters David Koch h and Samantha Armytage.
“From that point of view I’ve got a very good cardiovascular system, I’ve had a stress test and I’m in the top 1 or 2 per cent in the country.”
Justice John Dowsett noted Mr Palmer “appears to be in ru ruddy h health” se segment. Just days after th the segment, his w wife Anna Palmer phoned Gold C Coast doctor R Reza Madah to sa say he was ill with abdominal pain following an operation to remove his gallstones in March. Dr Madah wrote an affidavit to declare Mr Palmer was unfit to appear in court, and was hauled into the witness box at the last minute. in good the
The doctor said Mr Palmer not only suffered pain after being “critically unwell with pancreatitis”, he also displayed confusion at times due to strong pain medication.
But he agreed the businessman did not seem “confused” during the Sunrise interview.
“Perhaps he wasn’t on medication or in pain,” Dr Madah said. “It is a fluctuating disease.” The court was told that Mr Palmer also made serious business decisions in the past week that required lucidity.
Justice Dowsett ordered the public examination of Mr Palmer to continue today in the “public interest”, but said there would be legal argument first to finalise the line of questioning – including whether he can be asked about Mr Mensink’s whereabouts.
Mr Palmer, now represented by high- profile barrister Andrew Boe, was believed to be in his luxurious mega- mansion on the exclusive Sovereign Islands yesterday.
A woman who answered the intercom indicated he was home but said he was “not available”.