Federal Court dismisses Mensink appeal over warrants

FEDERAL Court judges have lambasted “fanciful” and “absurd” claims that fugitive Clive Mensink had no clue he was wanted for questioning over the collapse of Queensland Nickel, dismissing his attempt to appeal against warrants for his arrest.

Two warrants were issued for Mr Mensink’s arrest last year after he refused to return to Australia for questioning over the refinery’s 2016 demise and his lawyers have repeatedly asserted he was unaware of his obligation to front questioning in the Federal Court.

But in a judgment dismissing an appeal of the warrants handed down yesterday, judges took aim at Mr Mensink and his lawyer Sam Iskander, saying affidavits filed with the court regarding contact had been “ambiguous and unsatisfactory”.

“Left unexplained … was how Mr Iskander was able to obtain meaningful instructions to bring an interlocutory application to set aside orders without his client knowing of their existence,” Justice Robert Bromwich said.

“Once again, the distinct impression is that Mr Iskander was not making a real effort to advise Mr Mensink of the existence and content of the … orders made by the primary judge. … It becomes farcical for Mr Mensink’s lawyers to have sufficient means of contact that have clearly been effective in the past, and instructions to apply to set aside orders made by the primary judgment, but insufficient means of contacting Mr Mensink to inform him of the date for examination.”

Justice Bromwich said the “evidence revealed no more than a perfunctory and superficial attempt to contact Mr Mensink” was made and that Mr Iskander “seemed to be more focused on establishing that contact had not been made, rather than establishing that all reasonable efforts to contact Mr Mensink had been made”.

Mr Mensink was the sole registered director of Queensland Nickel when it collapsed.