Clive Palmer loses bid to stop criminal charge

Clive Palmer has lost yet another attempt to block criminal charges being brought against him.

BILLIONAIRE Clive Palmer has lost a Supreme Court bid to have criminal charges brought against him and his company Palmer Leisure Coolum thrown out.

Mr Palmer was charged by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission in February last year for allegedly aiding, abetting or counselling the commission of an offence by another person, namely his business Palmer Leisure Coolum (PLC).

PALMER’S SHOCKING TRAFFIC HISTORY

ASIC alleges in June 2012, PLC breached the Corporations Act by publicly professing to make a takeover bid for villa timeshare scheme The Presidents Club, but failed to make an offer for securities in the company within the prescribed two month period.

ASIC alleges Mr Palmer aided, abetted, counselled or procured the company to do so.

Mr Palmer last year launched a bid to have the charges thrown out, claiming they were an abuse of process and that the shares were not a security under the law and therefore not a breach of the act.

As part of his defence, Mr Palmer claimed he had been the victim of an orchestrated scheme by senior government officials who had vowed to “get him” and foil his plans to return to politics.

But Justice Soraya Ryan today threw out the dismissal application, meaning the case will return to the Brisbane Magistrates Court where Mr Palmer is expected to fight the charge.

“I considered the critical issue to be whether this court should fragment or intervene in the criminal proceedings which have commenced in the Magistrates Court,” Justice Ryan said in her judgement.

“The authorities make it plain that the administration of the criminal law should be left to the criminal courts and that it is only rarely and in truly exceptional circumstances that this court should intervene.

“I found nothing exceptional in this case.”

Originally published as Clive Palmer loses bid to stop criminal charge