Clive Mensink: Push for Clive Palmer’s nephew to be extradited

PRESSURE is growing on fugitive businessman Clive Mensink to face questioning over his role in the collapse of Queensland Nickel and the loss of 800 jobs.

FUGITIVE businessman Clive Mensink should be immediately extradited to Australia if criminal charges are laid against him, according to Labor’s shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus.

Mr Dreyfus, a QC and former Attorney-General, said the runaway nephew of Clive Palmer should be brought back to Australia to face questioning over the collapse of Queensland Nickel in 2016, with the loss of 800 jobs.

His comments comes as the Government and ASIC come under increasing pressure to act against Mr Mensink, who fled overseas 2.5 years ago and is refusing to return to face questioning in court.

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There are growing calls for Clive Mensink, the nephew of Clive Palmer, to be extradited. Picture: Ellen Whinnett

News Corp on Sunday revealed how a legal path had been identified to extradite Mr Mensink from Bulgaria, where he has been hiding out since his uncle’s company failed.

Corporate watchdog ASIC has revealed for the first time that it is considering criminal proceedings against Mr Mensink, but no final decision has been made on whether to charge him.

“If criminal charges are laid against Mr Mensink, the Australian Government should leave no stone unturned in extraditing him to Australia without delay,’’ Mr Dreyfus told News Corp.

“Mr Mensink [has] never fully accounted for [his] appalling behaviour in the collapse of Queensland Nickel, which led to significant job losses in Queensland.

“If Mr Mensink thinks he has nothing to hide, he should return to Australian voluntarily to face the music.’’

Mr Dreyfus joins Attorney-General Christian Porter in calling for Mr Mensink to voluntarily return to face questioning over the collapse of Queensland Nickel with more than $215 million in debt. The Federal Government stepped in to pay $64 million in workers entitlements, and worker still remain $10 million out of pocket. Mr Mensink was the sole director at the time.

Clive Mensink and his girlfriend Gabriela Konstantinova have been living in Bulgaria.

Mr Palmer earlier this month issued an inflammatory statement saying he had appointed his nephew to a new job with the Titanic II project, and claimed that liquidators had always known where Mr Mensink was. But liquidators only learnt of his whereabouts when he was tracked down by News Corp in February. He also incorrectly claimed the reason his nephew hadn’t returned was because liquidators wouldn’t pay his travel costs.

Jobs and Industrial Relations Minister Kelly O’Dwyer said 60 days had been set aside for a trial starting in April next year to attempt to recover more than $270 million from Clive Palmer and his companies.

Clive Mensink pictured outside the Supreme Court in Brisbane in 2016.

“The Government won’t tolerate Australian workers being ripped off, nor Australian taxpayers. It doesn’t matter who you are, you need to be accountable for your actions,’’ she said.

“Since Queensland Nickel was initially placed into voluntary administration in January 2016, the Commonwealth Government has undertaken a number of actions to protect workers’ entitlements and pursue monies owed to the Government, including paying former employees of Queensland Nickel approximately $66.8 million through Fair Entitlements Guarantee assistance.

“The Government will continue to work to protect the interests of the former employees and the Australian taxpayers, and ensure that those who owe money to Queensland Nickel are brought to account through funding the Special Purpose Liquidators.

“The recovery proceeding to recover in excess of $200 million from the corporate entities and $70 million from Mr Clive Palmer is listed for trial on 29 April 2019 for a period of 60 days.”