Clive Palmer in Brisbane High Court over collapse of Queensland Nickel
Court hears Palmer refused an offer to use his property portfolio to save QN because of a conspiracy theory on Turnbull and banks.
Clive Palmer refused an offer from NAB to use his multi-million-dollar property portfolio to save stricken Queensland Nickel because of a conspiracy theory about Malcolm Turnbull and the banks.
The Federal Court has heard QN was rejected by the four major banks for a $25 million overdraft in September and October last year. An NAB senior executive wrote to QN’s chief financial officer Daren Wolfe that finance could be extended if Mr Palmer had provided liquid capital of his own.
Asked today by barrister Tom Sullivan QC, for liquidators PPB Advisory: “Do you own Mineralogy House in your own name?”
Mr Palmer: “Yes,” estimating it was worth $22m to $25m.
Mr Sullivan: “Did you seek to sell it in the second half of 2015?”
Mr Palmer: “No.”
Mr Sullivan: “Did you provide it as security for an overdraft?”
Mr Palmer: “No.”
The Australian revealed this morning that Mr Palmer is trying to sell Mineralogy House, his corporate headquarters, in Brisbane’s CBD.
The former federal MP alleged that the banks had all refused him credit because Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had “instructed” them to do so.
“The Australian government and the Queensland government were out to do me politically,” Mr Palmer told the court today.
“I was told by former Queensland deputy premier Jim Elder (now a lobbyist) that that was the case.”
“The reality was it was just corruption at its highest level.”
Mr Palmer will appear in the High Court in Brisbane this afternoon in an effort to have his interrogation over the collapse of Queensland Nickel declared unconstitutional.
Declaring “God bless Australia”, Mr Palmer arrived at the Federal Court this morning to continue to give evidence to a public examination run by liquidators trying to claw back $65m in federal taxpayers’ cash used to pay out refinery workers’ entitlements.
However, on the High Court list, Mr Palmer is scheduled to appear before judge Susan Kiefel at 2.15pm today in Brisbane. The Australian understands this is a third attempt by Mr Palmer to have the examinations or summonses declared unconstitutional and abandoned.
The respondents are special purpose liquidators PPB Advisory, who are running the current Federal Court public examination.
Mr Palmer did not answer questions about trying to sell his $20m corporate headquarters Mineralogy House as he entered court.
Earlier in today’s Federal Court hearing, asked who was funding his nephew Clive Mensink’s European holiday, Mr Palmer said “that’s a matter for him”.
Mr Sullivan asked whether Mr Palmer or any of his corporate entities were funding Mr Mensink’s jaunt.
“Mr Mensink is still working for the manager of the Queensland Nickel joint venture,” Mr Palmer said. “He’s entitled to his normal entitlements.”
Pressed on whether he or any of his entities were funding the cruise that Mr Mensink is allegedly on, Mr Palmer said “not that I’m aware of”.
He said his nephew - the sole registered director of QN when it collapsed - had not indicated when he intended on returning to Australia.
Mr Palmer was asked again about Queensland Nickel’s rejection by the four major banks for a loan of $25m, in late 2015. He said NAB had denied the request because “something funny was going on”.
He has previously alleged that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had turned the banks against him for political purposes.
“Queensland Nickel could have asked me for cash, (it) could have asked the joint venture for cash, and the joint venture clearly had the capacity to meet a trivial debt like this if it wanted to,” Mr Palmer said.
Mr Palmer abruptly called for an early morning break from his testimony, after he said QN chief financial officer Daren Wolfe had told him only a month or two ago that the QN 2016 budget was prepared using old figures.
He then backtracked and said he couldn’t exactly recall when the conversation occurred.
Mr Palmer has previously said Mr Mensink told him about the outdated budget figures in late 2015, and he’d gotten so angry he’d only looked at its front page.
A budget was never approved for QN for the 2016 year.
Earlier, when quizzed about who he had spoken personally to at QN in 2015, other than Mr Mensink, Mr Palmer said he couldn’t remember.
“Personally, I was busy on parliamentary business in 2015,” the former federal MP for the Sunshine Coast seat of Fairfax said.
“That was my prime obligation...I was more concerned with the country at the time.”
Pressed further, Mr Palmer said: “There’s 1000 people working at QN. I don’t run the show, I don’t care what they do.”
More to come ...