Sue me, said Clive Palmer of million-dollar salary — so he did

Accountant Bill Schoch was in his swimming pool when Clive Palmer made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Clive Palmer with his then Coolum resort manager and friend over 40 years, Bill Schoch. Picture: Megan Slade.

Accountant Bill Schoch was in his swimming pool one June afternoon in 2011 when he received an unexpected phone call from his old friend Clive Palmer, making him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

“Bill,” Mr Schoch yesterday told the Queensland Supreme Court Mr Palmer had barked, “work (for me) for five years for $5 million. That’s a million-dollar salary a year.”

A surprised Mr Schoch agreed, and what ensued was months of “24/7 … speed work”: trips to China, smoothing things over when his “upset” boss “threw a pencil” at Chinese business partners, eventually becoming general manager of Mr Palmer’s troubled Queensland Coolum resort.

Mr Schoch even ran, unsuccessfully, for federal parliament for the Palmer United Party in September 2013.

Things turned sour in December of that year, however, Mr Schoch told the court, after he tried to nail Mr Palmer down on the alleged $5m contract.

“You don’t have a contract for $5m … your f. king contract is $150,000. Leave by Tuesday. Sue me,” Mr Schoch said Mr Palmer had told him over the phone.

So he did. Now the acrimonious end to a 40-year relationship is being played out before judge John Bond in a Brisbane court, where Mr Schoch is suing Mr Palmer for nearly $5m in damages, claiming a breach of contract. Mr Palmer is defending the claim.

The PUP leader — and his com­panies Mineralogy and Queens­land Nickel — denies any wrongdoing.

Two written contracts, from 2011 and 2012, tendered in court yesterday showed that Mr Schoch was paid a salary of $100,000 and then $150,000. However, the chartered acc­ountant said that was merely his “starting” or “base” salary, with the promised $1m a year to be paid as a “bonus” when royalties began to flow from Mr Palmer’s West Australian iron ore project.

Mr Schoch met Mr Palmer in the 1970s, when both were in their 20s; Mr Schoch was just out of university, Mr Palmer was doing big real estate deals. It is not clear if Mr Palmer will be giving evidence.

Additional reporting: AAP