Palmer to face court, have assets pursued

CLIVE Palmer has been ordered to face court and will have his assets pursued by liquidators following the collapse of Queensland Nickel.

Clive Palmer leaving Parliament House for the last time. Picture: Kym Smith

CLIVE Palmer has been ordered to face court and will have his assets pursued by special purpose liquidators following the collapse of Queensland Nickel.

A Federal Court granted a request by liquidators FTI Consulting to question the federal MP after FTI earlier said there was evidence he’d acted as a shadow director and used Queensland Nickel to bankroll his other business interests.

The court has also ordered Mr Palmer’s nephew Clive Mensink — Queensland Nickel’s sole appointed director — to appear, along with former managing director Ian Ferguson.

The hearings, likely next month, are expected to range over damning allegations FTI made in its April report to creditors, who are owed hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Federal Court also approved the appointment of three special purpose liquidators — Stephen Parbery, Marcus Ayres and Michael Owen — on Wednesday.

Part of their job will be to pursue Mr Palmer’s assets to try to recover almost $70 million in taxpayer funds that have been used to cover the unpaid entitlements of about 800 workers sacked from his Townsville nickel refinery.

Mr Palmer has denied any wrongdoing and says he’s not worried about the prospect of being questioned in court, nor about being held personally liable for workers’ entitlements.

The MP has already announced plans to sue FTI for $1.2 billion. He accuses FTI, and specifically administrator John Park, of causing serious breaches of the Queensland Nickel Joint Venture Agreement, and of blocking a restructure that could have kept the refinery open and saved workers’ jobs.