Brisbane spin doctor Andrew Crook vows to settle a score with NAB after a long legal battle
A Brisbane media adviser, a former AFL player turned richlister and a private eye have won a fight over claims they concocted a wild conspiracy to kidnap a NAB banker and extract a bogus confession after enticing him to a remote Indonesian island. But their battle is far from over.
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SCORE SETTLING
It’s over but it’s not over.
Brisbane spin doctor Andrew Crook and two colleagues waged a six-year battle to clear their names and finally won last week when charges against them were dropped in a shock move.
Prosecutors had alleged that Crook, developer Tony Smith and private eye Mick Featherstone concocted a wild conspiracy to kidnap a NAB banker and extract a bogus confession after enticing him to a remote Indonesian island.
Now Crook, who says he suffered “devastating’’ personal and professional consequences as a result, is intent on exacting revenge against NAB.
He hinted at his plans when City Beat rang for a chat last week but subsequently decided against providing us with further details on Monday.
Crook, whose clients have included Clive Palmer and Graham Turner’s Flight Centre, said he didn’t want to signal his punches to the big bank.
Smith, though, has made clear that he is intent on pursuing legal action against NAB.
A wealthy former AFL player who went on to launch BreakFree resorts, Smith’s beef with NAB goes back to 2009 when he sued the lender over a $68m dispute.
The trio were later accused of luring Smith’s NAB banker, Adam Gazal, to the Indonesian island of Batam in early 2013 for an interview for a non-existent job with a Palmer mining venture. A court heard Gazal was forced to record a false admission that he had lied during a separate civil action Smith launched against the bank.
The case against Crook and the others fell apart after Gazal decided against pursuing the matter.
MINING CLASH
They’ve waged a legal war for more than 12 years to stop New Hope from moving ahead with the expansion of its New Acland coal mine on the Darling Downs.
Now critics of the $900m third stage will finally get to make their case to the High Court on Tuesday.
These farmers, who oppose the destruction of agricultural land and warn against potential damage to groundwater, are hoping the High Court orders the matter back to the Land Court.
A previous Land Court ruling in 2017 recommended that both a mining lease and an environmental authority should be refused.
But, with the state election campaign officially kicking off this week, backers of the project hope pressure ramps up on the state government to grant final approvals. About 150 coal jobs hang in the balance.
New Hope boss Reinhold Schmidt accused Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk of hypocrisy last week after the green lighting of the Olive Downs project in the Bowen Basin even though it too is still facing legal hurdles.
LAUNCH PARTY
Speaking of the election, the political equivalent of the silly season is already well under way.
One of the first out of the blocks is former LNP leader Tim Nicholls, who presided over his campaign launch at the weekend for another stint in the seat of Clayfield.
Nicholls attracted a big crowd of supporters who packed into Brothers Rugby Union Club at Albion for a two-hour function that included video messages of support from former Australian Ambassador to the US Joe Hockey and ex-Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.
Among those pressing the flesh were deputy LNP leader Tim Mander, along with federal pollies Trevor Evans and Senator Amanda Stoker.
Mander told the gathering that Nicholls would play a senior role in an LNP Government if Labor loses office on October 31.
City Beat spies report that business types at the event were delighting in the fact that the Greens have dumped their Clayfield candidate, John Meyer, after he raised allegations about a misappropriation of funds by the party. The Greens have vigorously denied the claims.