Palmer United shuns auditor over $26m

CLIVE Palmer’s political party is resisting demands to have its annual financial return audited as required under law.

CLIVE Palmer’s political party is resisting demands to have its annual financial return audited as required under law as the federal MP faces investigation over an undeclared $6 million donation ahead of the last federal election.

The Electoral Commission of Queensland has confirmed that the Palmer United Party failed to provide an auditor’s certificate for its 2013-14 annual return that showed donations of almost $26m from the businessman’s web of companies.

While PUP has unsuccessfully sought an exemption to provide an auditor’s certificate — citing the cost of the inspection of the party’s records — the ECQ is now likely to examine a purported $6m donation from one of Mr Palmer’s companies that is not declared in the annual return.

An ECQ spokesman yesterday said PUP had so far resisted demands for the audit and now faces fines and a possible compliance investigation over the missing $6m.

The failure to declare the $6m contradicts evidence provided by Mr Palmer to the Supreme Court of Queensland in a civil dispute over the alleged misappropriation of $12.167m from his Chinese business partners to fund his election campaign last year.

The $6m was drawn by Mr Palmer in August last year from the operating accounts of a West Australian port and funnelled to the PUP through one of his companies, Cosmo Developments.

But the funds, part of $12m that is also the subject of a preliminary police investigation, is not recorded in the declarations and there is no mention of Cosmo .

Two “agents’’ of PUP responsible for making the annual returns to the ECQ did not return calls to The Australian and Mr Palmer has previously failed to respond to questions about the declaration.

Under the Electoral Act 1992, a political party must file an annual return within four months of the end of the financial year and it must be accompanied by an auditor’s certificate stating that the auditor has examined the entity’s accounts and documents.

PUP initially filed an annual return on October 14, stating revenues of $244,979 for the 2013-14 ­financial year, which was accompanied by an auditor’s certificate.

An amended return on Nov­ember 18, which revised its revenues to $28,761.679 — including election funding of $2.8m — did not have the required auditor’s certificate.

An ECQ spokesman said PUP had been asked to file the certificate, but had failed to meet its legal obligations. “The party applied for an exemption under a provision of the act that allows the (electoral) commissioner to waive compliance if the commission considers the costs unreasonable,’’ he said.

“We have told them that the costs are not unreasonable and that we require the certificate but we have yet to get a response.’’

The spokesman also said the commission might investigate the contradictions between the annual return and Mr Palmer’s evidence in court about the $6m donation.

“We do compliance reviews and that would be a matter to consider in that review,’’ he said.

The PUP annual return included a personal donation registered under Mr Palmer’s name of $101,833.

The rest of the donations to the PUP were made through four of Mr Palmer’s privately owned companies: Mineralogy, Queensland Nickel, Palmer Leisure Australia and Palmer Coolum Resort.

Mineralogy, which controlled the operating account of the West Australian port now at the centre of the civil trial, made only a $50,916 donation to the PUP last year.

But on June 30 this year it poured $8.18m into the party in two separate donations.