Clive Mensink continued booking cruises as Queensland Nickel action loomed

AN EMAIL trail has revealed the extent of Clive Mensink’s luxury cruising as an arrest warrant loomed over the multimillion-dollar collapse of Queensland Nickel.

• Mensink ‘not coming back’
• Interpol called in
• Public help sought

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 government-appointed 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 arrest 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 cruise.

“Travel counsellor” Dorothy Weaver from Vacations to Go had emailed Mr Mensink the same day to finalise payment for upcoming cruise bookings with Holland America, the same cruise line Mr Palmer travelled with through the Mediterranean in June.

“I would like to discuss how you would like to proceed with your final payments,” she wrote, without revealing the destination.

“I would also like to review each booking to confirm you have the best rate for each category.”

Mr Mensink replied that all correspondence should be directed to Ms Mole, and added “if there is a better rate yes please do so and note that I am a three-star mariner”.

A three-star mariner is someone who has done more than 75 days of cruising with Holland America cruise lines.

Mr Mensink also emailed Ms Mole to ask if his new driver’s licence had arrived, as well as a Westpac credit card — which he asked her to send him a photo of on March 17.

The emails were tendered to the Federal Court in a separate case by Mr Palmer’s lawyer.

Mr Palmer told the Federal Court in May, when he famously gave evidence while clutching a sick bag, that he bankrolled two of Mr Mensink’s cruises — one through the Caribbean, and one departing Spain

But he told the Supreme Court this month that his emails to Mr Mensink were now going unanswered and he believed his attitude was that he was gone “for good”.