Federal Court serves summons on Clive Palmer and key lieutenants

The Federal Court issued fresh summonses to be served on Clive Palmer, key lieutenants and accounting firms.

Clive Palmer has denied any wrong­doing, in the face of allegations that he may have acted as a ­shadow director of the company and breached his director’s duties. Picture: Tara Croser

The Federal Court has issued fresh summonses to be served on Clive Palmer, a handful of his key lieutenants and major accounting firms over the collapse of the ­tycoon’s Queensland Nickel.

The Australian can reveal Brisbane Federal Court registrar Murray Belcher yesterday quietly ordered summonses for examination to be issued to Mr Palmer, his nephew and former Queensland Nickel director Clive Mensink, former managing director of operations Ian Ferguson and former chief­ ­financial officer Daren Wolfe.

Mr Palmer’s lawyer, Kris Byrne, and his firm Kilmurray Legal will be served with orders to produce documents, along with insurers AIG Australia and Marsh Pty Ltd, and financial giants PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst and Young.

The latter was Queensland Nickel’s auditor.

Brent Kijurina of insolvency firm Hall Chadwick, which visited the Townsville nickel refinery in January, will also be served with an order to hand over documents.

Queensland Nickel’s parent companies, QNI Resources and QNI Metals, both controlled by Mr Palmer, will be told to produce documents at an examination hearing in the Federal Court. The 13 orders — once served — require the men and the companies to turn over private documents by August 19 to the court.

Mr Palmer and his former Queensland Nickel executives may also be called to give evidence before the Federal Court, with dates tentatively set aside for late this month and early next.

Mr Palmer said last night he had not yet been served.

He has previously insisted he was not cowed by the prospect of being publicly cross-examined by liquidators investigating the collapse of Queensland Nickel, which ran his Townsville refinery.

He has denied any wrong­doing, in the face of allegations that he may have acted as a ­shadow director of the company and breached his director’s duties.

According to the order made by Mr Belcher yesterday, the summonses were requested by PPB Advisory’s Marcus Ayres.

Mr Ayres is one of three special purpose liquidators charged with trying to recoup nearly $70 million in taxpayer funds paid to former QN ­employees to cover redundancy entitlements.

Affidavits supporting his application have been sealed and will be kept secret unless otherwise ordered by the Federal Court.

The company collapsed into liquidation in April, after the loss of nearly 800 jobs from the Townsville plant, leaving those workers out of pocket by tens of thousands of dollars each.