AFTER 20 months on the run, Mensink, 49, was busted by News Corp last week as he left the movies with his glamorous girlfriend Gabriela Konstantinova, close to the apartment they share in an up-market district in the Bulgarian capital Sofia.

The discovery of his safe-house, which has eluded authorities, comes after a year-long investigation by News Corp spanning seven countries and multiple visits to Bulgaria in eastern Europe.

The formerly obese company boss was almost unrecognisable, having shed up to half his body weight and grown a thick beard as he sought to avoid scrutiny over his role in the $300 million collapse of the Queensland Nickel refinery.

Mensink looked horrified and refused to answer News Corp’s questions as he ducked into a pedestrian subway after being approached last week.

But Ms Konstantinova, who with a female friend had accompanied Mensink to a premium viewing of the steamy 50 Shades Freed movie, defended him, saying “I don’t think it is correct to embarrass him and interrupt him.’’

“I don’t know what to say, for what,’’ she said, in English. “I don’t know, I don’t understand. Please, can you talk in a different way and another time.’’

RELATED: Mensink’s lavish life with glam lover

EXOTIC EXILE

Mensink, the nephew of disgraced MP and tycoon Clive Palmer, has been on the run from authorities in Australia since 2016, when the Palmer-owned Queensland Nickel refinery in Townsville, of which he was sole director, went bust and cost almost 800 people their jobs.

His self-imposed exile is funded by his uncle, who the Federal Court in Brisbane heard was paying him $4000 a week from two Palmer-owned companies.

Liquidators PPB, who are chasing the Queensland Nickel money trail, received a tip in September that Mensink, wearing a toupee and having undergone a significant weight loss, had been spotted at an apartment owned by Clive Palmer’s parents-in-law, Alexander and Stilyana Sokolov, who live in the Oborishte district in Sofia.

The company hired a local firm to serve documents on Mensink, but the firm was unable to locate him.

News Corp can reveal he has been spending up big during his exile, splurging thousands of dollars at some of Sofia’s main shopping malls including at high-end boutiques Versace, Armani, Porsche and Swarovski.

He has also been jetting freely around the globe, with News Corp confirming he has flown in and out of Sofia Airport to Vienna in Austria, to Munich, Frankfurt and Berlin in Germany, and Rome in Italy.

He enjoyed a romantic New Year’s getaway with Ms Konstantoniva and her family at a plush ski resort in Bansko, a Bulgarian winter playground, and is a regular visitor with her to the Cine Grand movie theatre in the Park Centre, walking distance from her first-floor apartment that they share in a nearby residential district.

His $4000 weekly wage, paid fortnightly, compares very favourably with the average weekly wage of $220 a week paid in Bulgaria, the European Union’s poorest and most corrupt member state.

MONEY MAKETH THE MAN

Since he went on the run, Mensink, who is divorced from his Australian wife, has undergone an enormous physical makeover, dropping huge amounts of weight, jazzing up his wardrobe with designer jeans and shoes, and growing a heavy salt-and-pepper beard to disguise his appearance.

News Corp investigations show that he paid for two visits to a plastic surgery clinic in Bulgaria last year, first spending $290 at a clinic run by a Dr Georgiev on May 12. He followed that up with another payment of $3095 to Dr Georgiev on May 25.

News Corp visited two clinics run by a Dr Georgiev in Sofia. The first, in the central Belite Brezi district, is called the Nefertiti clinic, and was the first in Bulgaria to offer liposuction fat removal. Staff there told News Corp Dr Emil Georgiev died in August last year.

The second clinic, run by Dr Nikolay Georgiev in the residential district of Knyazhevo, declined to confirm or deny Mensink was a patient, citing confidentiality provisions. They also said they provided high-quality services to their clients.

Mensink had previously told the court, through his lawyers, that he could not comfortably fit into an economy-class seat and demanded $50,000 to fund his trip back to Australia.

This is unlikely to be a problem for the newly-slimmed down fugitive, who also shows no signs of the clinical depression and anxiety he has also claimed would prevent him returning to court.

EUROPEAN ALLURE

CLIVE Mensink’s Bulgarian girlfriend is a pneumatic blonde with a job at the National Parliament, a portfolio of sexy photos on social media, and a discreet flat for him to hide away in central Sofia.

Gabriela Plamenova Konstantinova, 46, routinely attracts hundreds of responses on Facebook when she posts photos of herself in glamorous outfits, heavy make-up and artfully-styled hair.

Previously prolific on social media, she virtually gave up posting on Facebook after January 2017 — about the time Mensink moved to Bulgaria.

The length of their relationship is not known, but the pair’s close connection was obvious as they kissed, held hands, and Ms Konstantinova fussed with his clothes and touched his face as they waited to attend a movie screening together.

They had walked to the Cine Grand at the Park Centre, a mid-sized shopping centre a short walk from their home in central Sofia, on Wednesday last week. The pair of movie buffs had attended the same cinema just a week earlier.

Ms Konstantinova owns the first-floor flat in the residential district that Mensink has been hiding out in as he tries to avoid media and official scrutiny over his role in the collapse of Queensland Nickel in 2016.

He sometimes doesn’t leave the flat for days, while she heads out every morning for the 25-minute walk down to the National Assembly, Bulgaria’s national parliament, where she has a job.

She was spotted this week leaving in the morning, and stopping to feed stray cats in the street, before briefly chatting with neighbours. Video surveillance cameras covered the front of the building.

There are no photos of Mensink on Ms Konstantinova’s Facebook page, but there are several of her at nightclubs around Sofia, and travelling to Barcelona in Spain, as well as earlier one from America.

One of the venues she posted photographs from last year is the PM Club, a nightclub in downtown Sofia famous for ripping off tourists with inflated entry and drinks prices.

The other was the rooftop bar on top of the Sense Hotel, near Sofia’s famed Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and Ms Konstantinova’s workplace, the National Assembly.

The relationship has developed despite Mensink swearing an affidavit last year that he couldn’t return to Australia because he was prioritising his post-divorce relationship with new girlfriend Jodie Shay, a Brisbane property manager, who was travelling overseas with

Ms Konstantinova joined Mensink on a romantic New Year’s break at Bansko, a ski resort and winter playground two hours’ south of Sofia.

The pair were joined by her brother Martin, her mother Jordana and her father Plamen on December 30 when they checked into the Grand Hotel Bansko, a plush resort and casino which doesn’t advertise its prices online but features a spa, several restaurants and bars and an in-house gaming salon.

LONG EYE OF THE LAW

Mensink’s passport was due to expire on June 17 last year, and Australia has only an honorary consulate in Bulgaria with no powers to issue passports. The Australian Embassy which handles Bulgarian consular matters is in neighbouring Greece.

In May, Mensink spent four days in Greece, driving a rented Renault across the border at Kulata, two hours’ drive from Sofia, on May 5.

He would have been required to pay a toll of 2.40 euros ($3.70 Aus) and, unusually, appears to have been required to show his passport both as he left Bulgaria, and as he arrived again on May 8.

When News Corp drove a rental car across the border, no passport check was carried out departing Bulgaria, and only a visual check, with no computer crosscheck, was carried out on the return. Greek border officials checked passports entering the country and on departure.

It is not known if these border crossings triggered the Interpol Blue Notice which would have notified the Australian Federal Police of Mensink’s movements.

Two warrants have been issued for Mensink’s arrest in Australia after he ignored summonses to appear in the Federal Court in Queensland for questioning.

Liquidators also want to serve papers on him relating to a $500 million lawsuit alleging, among other matters, that he and Palmer breached their director’s duties and allowed Queensland Nickel to trade while insolvent before it collapsed.

The Australian Federal Police told News Corp on Friday they were “aware that an arrest warrant had been issued for Mr Clive Mensink.

“The AFP is currently assisting the Federal Court of Australia in relation to this matter,’’ a spokesman said.

“Should anyone have any information regarding this matter, please contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.’’

Despite the AFP’s calls for information, Australia does not pursue extraditions unless a person is liable to serve a jail term or face criminal prosecution, under the provisions of the Extradition Act 1988.

As Mensink is facing contempt of court for civil procedures and has not been charged with criminal matters, he will not, under current circumstances, face extradition proceedings.

News Corp has advised authorities of Mensink’s whereabouts.

EVASIVE MANOUVRES

CLIVE Mensink went on the run two months after his uncle’s Townsville-based nickel refinery went bust in April 2016 — and has been thumbing his nose at authorities ever since.

Mensink, 49, embarked on an extended overseas holiday in June 2016, months after Queensland Nickel, of which he was sole director, went into liquidation.

Almost 800 people lost their jobs, and the company imploded with debts of more than $300 million.

The Australian taxpayer forked out $66 million to guarantee the former nickel workers’ pensions and other entitlements.

Mensink’s continued absence from Australia means he has avoided difficult questions about his actions when the company was going broke, and what control his uncle, Queensland Nickel’s owner and former director Clive Palmer, had over him and the company.

The fugitive company boss has used a number of arguments to avoid facing court scrutiny in Australia, including claiming that he was clinically depressed and anxious, that he was too fat for an economy-class airline seat and needed $50,000 to return to Australia, and that he was prioritising a new relationship with a girlfriend after his divorce and needed time to “bond’’ with her on holidays overseas.

Mensink has ignored two summonses to appear in the Federal Court in Queensland, where special purpose liquidators are trying to follow the money-trail and find out where Queensland Nickel’s money went, as well as claw back the $66 million paid by taxpayers.

He has also ignored two arrest warrants for contempt of court over his non-appearances.

Because the warrants are for civil court related matters, they are not considered serious enough for Australian authorities to pursue him overseas.

While the Australian Federal Police have asked Interpol to issue a Blue Notice, which sees international police and immigration jurisdictions report his movements as he crosses borders, they have stopped short of issuing a Red Notice, which would allow him to be arrested any time he crossed an international border or came to police attention.

Instead, he can only be arrested if he returns to Australia — and Palmer, who the court has been told is paying Mensink $4000 a week while he is on the run, has said he believes his nephew has left Australia for good.

As well, Government-appointed liquidators PPB Advisory are suing Palmer, Mensink and 19 other people connected to them, for almost $500 million over the collapse of Queensland Nickel.

It is alleged Palmer and Mensink breached their duties as directors of the company, and allowed it to trade while insolvent.

Liquidators are also looking at why Palmer paid his parents-in-law, Bulgarian couple Alexander and Stilyana Sokolov, $7.6 million, back in November 2012, as part of more than $42 million worth of transfers he made on a single day, apparently panicked that authorities were moving to seize his assets.

Palmer is accused of “wilfully and recklessly’’ stripping cash out of Queensland Nickel to prop up his other business including resorts and golf course.

It is further alleged he used the alias “Terry Smith’’ and continued to pull the strings as a shadow director after he resigned from Queensland Nickel after becoming the member for Fairfax in Federal Parliament.

Mensink, who also once stood as a Palmer United Party candidate, was the sole director of Queensland Nickel at the time his uncle was alleged to have been calling the shots behind the scenes.

ellen.whinnett@news.co.uk

Additional reporting Milena Hristova and Paul Toohey.