Clive Palmer’s cruise may be over but his flagship is under fire

Clive Palmer might still be travelling through Europe but his lawyers have been busy in Federal Court on his behalf.

Clive Palmer may still be travelling through Europe but his lawyers have been busy in the Federal Court on his behalf, trying to block access to his flagship company’s financial records.

The former federal MP dis­embarked from a lengthy Mediter­ranean cruise in Venice at the weekend and is believed to be spending a few days in Rome before­ flying to Bulgaria, the home country of his wife Anna.

Mr Palmer’s legal battles over the $300 million collapse of his Queensland Nickel company continue apace in Australia.

Yesterday, his solicitor Sam Iskander­, told the Federal Court in Brisbane that Mr Palmer wanted to block access by his estranged Chinese business partner Citic to his flagship company Mineral­ogy’s ­financial records. The documents — understood to include balance sheets — had been tendered to the Federal Court during one of Mr Palmer’s stints in the witness box being quizzed by liquidators about QN’s collapse.

While the documents are an exhibit on the public record, Citic, which is not a party to the Federal Court public examination into QN, must be given leave by the court to access the records.

Mr Iskander said leave should not be granted to Citic, which is locked in a separate legal dispute with Mineralogy in Western Australia over potentially billions of dollars in royalties that Mr Palmer believes he is owed.

Citic is the operator of the $12 billion Sino Iron mine in the Pilbara, having paid Mr Palmer $US415m in 2006 for the rights to develop the project.

Federal Court judge John Reeves agreed that the case should be adjourned until next week to allow Citic’s lawyers, ­Allens, to consider the matter.

It will be heard at the same time as another application by Mr Palmer’s companies, asking the Federal Court to set aside $210m in debt demands by liquidators PPB Advisory over the Queensland Nickel collapse.

The liquidators have issued the call notices to Mr Palmer’s companies QNI Metals and QNI Resources, parent companies of QN.

QN failed last year with $300m in debts, costing nearly 800 workers their jobs.

Mr Palmer, the ultimate owner of QN and every company in his corporate empire, has denied any wrongdoing in relation to QN’s demise. He insists he was retired from business and focusing on his role as a federal MP for the Sunshin­e Coast seat of Fairfax when the company was plunged into voluntary administration in January last year.

Liquidators allege he acted as a shadow director, controlling QN through his alias email ­address “Terry Smith” and in ­instructions to the company’s ­senior executives.

Mr Palmer did not respond to questions from The Australian. However, he tweeted yesterday: “Is it true or did you read it in The Australian?”