Queensland Nickel liquidators appeal Clive Palmer win
Queensland Nickel’s liquidators have appealed the verdict that prevented creditors chasing more than $100m from Clive Palmer’s Mineralogy.
Queensland Nickel’s liquidators have appealed against the verdict that prevented creditors chasing more than $100m from Clive Palmer’s flagship company, Mineralogy.
The mining magnate claimed victory and vindication last month after the ruling that money transferred from QNI’s accounts was a disbursement of funds from the Townsville nickel refinery’s joint-venture owners, not QNI itself.
General-purpose liquidators FTI Consulting are still chasing money from joint-venture companies QNI Metals and QNI Resources, which contracted QNI to manage the refinery.
In the QNI appeal, lodged late last month, the liquidators contended that Queensland Supreme Court judge Debra Mullins made a number of errors in reaching her decision, which was handed down on June 3.
Among the issues in contention was that money held by QNI for Metals and Resources was held on trust. They said Justice Mullins should have found that the joint ventures were not entitled to collapse the trust.
The liquidators also claim that the judge erred in finding the money transferred was from Metals and Resources, not QNI.
The Townsville nickel and cobalt refinery collapsed in January 2016, leaving 800 people jobless and creditors chasing hundreds of millions of dollars.
The bulk of QNI’s creditors, including taxpayers who funded a $70m entitlement guarantee scheme, were paid out last year when Mr Palmer settled claims made by the government-appointed special-purpose liquidator for about $90m.
As he prepares to announce whether his political party will contest the October 31 state election, Mr Palmer still faces a mountain of civil and criminal action. That includes two sets of criminal charges brought by the corporate watchdog, relating to his Sunshine Coast resort and West Australia mining ventures, listed for mention in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on July 17.
The former Fairfax MP, who has denied wrongdoing, was charged in February 2018 with breaching corporate law after a failed 2012 takeover bid of The President’s Club, which represents timeshare owners at his former Palmer Coolum Resort on the Sunshine Coast.
By law, a person or company who announces a takeover bid has two months to make an offer on shares or securities.
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission alleges Mr Palmer and his company Palmer Leisure Coolum did not follow through after publicly announcing a takeover of The President’s Club.
He was also charged by ASIC in February with breaching corporate law relating to two payments of $10m and $2.16m transferred out of an account belonging to Mineralogy in 2013.