Clive Palmer at risk of Crime and Misconduct Commission action

CLIVE Palmer is at risk of being formally investigated by Queensland’s anti-corruption agency.

The CMC began studying late yesterday a key Supreme Court document which could have implications for Clive Palmer.

CLIVE Palmer is at risk of being formally investigated by Queensland’s anti-corruption agency, the Crime and Misconduct Commission, as a result of allegations that he tried to use the lure of his political funds to “buy” the state’s ruling political party to advance his coal interests in the Galilee Basin.

The CMC began studying late yesterday a key Supreme Court document after The Weekend Australian asked why the serious allegations by Premier Campbell Newman and Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney had not been brought to its attention.

Mr Seeney said yesterday he regretted not alerting the CMC two years ago, adding that “at the time (it happened), Mr Palmer was a senior figure in the Liberal National Party”.

Mr Seeney said he had wanted to “attempt to try to work with” Mr Palmer within the “proper processes of government”, but it became impossible when the party’s major financial donor’s demands were rejected.

“I can see now that we should have reported it to the CMC at the time,’’ he said. “I am prepared to make a statement to the CMC or anyone else with an interest about it. I have been very consistent in telling the story of what happened. I have now given the CMC the statement that was provided to the Supreme Court.”

Section 87 of the Queensland Criminal Code states: “Any person who corruptly … offers to give or confer, or to procure or attempt to procure, to, upon, or for, any person employed in the public service, or being the holder of any public office, or to, upon, or for, any other person, any property or benefit of any kind on account of any such act or omission on the part of the person so employed or holding such office is guilty of a crime …”

An offender is liable to imprisonment for up to seven years “and to be fined at the discretion of the court”. The law also states that “if the offence is committed by or in relation to a minister of the crown ... the offender is liable to imprisonment for 14 years, and to be fined at the discretion of the court”.

Mr Palmer, who has strenuously denied any wrongdoing, has previously accused the Newman government and several of its cabinet ministers of corruption. Mr Palmer, who founded the Palmer United Party after his bitter split with the ruling Liberal National Party in 2012, has pledged to destroy Mr ­Newman’s government at the state election due next year.

Mr Palmer launched defamation proceedings against Mr Newman last month after the Premier, standing beside Tony Abbott following the PUP’s recruitment of three Northern Territory politicians, accused Mr Palmer of attempting to buy politicians across Australia.

In a legal document filed in the Queensland Supreme Court on Wednesday in response to the defamation proceedings, Mr Newman provided details of Mr Palmer’s alleged conduct in a key meeting on April 13, 2012.

Mr Newman alleged Mr Palmer “sought to have all of the staff” of Mr Seeney leave before the two men could discuss Mr Palmer’s coal interests in the Galilee Basin.

Mr Palmer allegedly claimed in the meeting that he had prepared his own draft legislation for development of the Galilee Basin’s coal reserves and he wanted Mr Seeney to ensure this framework was adopted, rather than relying on the normal machinery of government, according to the Supreme Court document.

The document says Mr Palmer “explained to Mr Seeney that the proposed legislation would give him exclusive rights to develop ‘Port Palmer’ at Abbot Point and a railway in an exclusive rail corridor between the port and the Galilee Basin”.

Mr Newman’s document also states that when Mr Seeney told the tycoon there were processes to follow, Mr Palmer replied that “he had paid substantial sums to the Liberal National Party to have the LNP elected and that he had a lot more money to support the LNP in the future”.

According to the Supreme Court document, Mr Palmer said to Mr Seeney “words to the effect that he had supported individual candidates in the past and liked to support candidates that understood how business works”.

Mr Palmer “sought to have Mr Seeney keep the purported (draft legislation), which Mr Seeney refused to do”.

There is a legal obligation on a person aware of potential official misconduct — in this alleged case, Mr Seeney — to report it to the CMC. The CMC Act states that if a public official suspects something may involve official misconduct, a “duty to notify is paramount”.

The Weekend Australian understands that the CMC had not previously considered the case until this newspaper’s questions yesterday. The CMC does not need a formal complaint to launch a probe.

The bitter battle escalated in state parliament yesterday as Mr Seeney, who last month in parliament called Mr Palmer a “crook” over his alleged wrongful spending of more than $12 million of Chinese money, launched a sustained attack.

Mr Seeney, after whom Mr Palmer has named a dinosaur, Jeff, at his golf resort on the Sunshine Coast, again accused the federal parliamentarian of having tried to “buy” the party.

Mr Palmer’s spokesman said Mr Seeney’s attacks were “just not true”, adding that the Deputy Premier was only interested in “inflicting pain on Queenslanders”.

Mr Palmer has quit as a director of his flagship company, Mineralogy, and other key companies related to his Queensland nickel refinery.