Judge issues arrest warrant for Clive Mensink

An arrest warrant has been ­issued for Clive Mensink, with a contempt of charge being considered by the Federal Court.

An arrest warrant has been ­issued for Clive Mensink, with a contempt of court charge being considered by the Federal Court as a way to trigger a second warrant that could see him extradited back to Australia.

The Federal Court in Brisbane yesterday issued a warrant that will see Clive Palmer’s globetrotting nephew taken into custody as soon as he returns to Australia.

Under the warrant, he would then be brought to court to be quizzed on the downfall of Queensland Nickel, of which he had been the sole registered ­director.

After the court heard that the warrant may not allow him to be extradited, judge John Dowsett yesterday said he would issue a second warrant, this time on a contempt of court charge, as soon as he received a written ­application from special-­purpose liquidators PPB Advisory. That application is to be filed today.

A contempt of court charge would create the possibility Mr Mensink could be extradited, depending on whether he was in a country with an existing extradition treaty, if the federal ­Attorney-General signed off on such a request being made to that country, and if that country approved it.

“You will have to make an ­application for him to be committed for contempt … and I’ll issue a warrant once that application has been filed,” Justice Dowsett told PPB Advisory’s legal team. He also signalled he would contact federal authorities to see whether they could help find Mr Mensink.

“I intend to direct the registrar to write to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, seeing if they can help us — and we’ll see if the Federal Police can help us through Interpol,” he said.

Brian O’Donnell QC, appearing for PPB Advisory, pointed to claims previously made by Mr Mensink that he was going to visit relatives in The Netherlands before returning to Australia and said it might be possible to find him in Europe.

Mr Palmer could also be quizzed in court on any knowledge he has about Mr Mensink’s whereabouts and contact details, Justice Dowsett said. “It might be a nice idea if Mr Palmer would swear an affidavit. Perhaps he (Mr Palmer) can be asked as part of an examination.”

Sam Iskander, who is representing both Mr Palmer and Mr Mensink, said the former politician did not know where his nephew was.

He unsuccessfully sought to have the court delay yesterday’s proceedings, telling the court he had not heard from his client in more than a month and was unsure whether he was aware of the threat of arrest.

Mr Iskander also said that the issuing of a warrant “is not something that has a mechanism to bring him back at this point in time” and that the media reporting of it “may have a repellent ­effect” on Mr Mensink.