Legal issues dog Clive Palmer during Mediterranean cruise

Cruising the Mediterranean has not been all rest and relaxation for Clive Palmer.

Clive Palmer during a stopover in Monte Carlo. Picture: Lilian Auffret

Cruising the Mediterranean has not been all rest and relaxation for Clive Palmer.

Fellow passengers on Holland America Line’s 2000-guest MS Westerdam have spotted Mr Palmer in the ship’s “Crow’s Nest” lounge, spending hours poring over legal papers.

As the vessel skirted the coast of Spain — stopping at the island of Mallorca, made famous by Australian businessman-in-exile Christopher Skase — and headed for France and Italy, Mr Palmer broke away from his family to spend time with his lawyers.

The former head of in-house litigation for Mr Palmer, Tracey Robinson, is with him on the cruise. Ms Robinson’s Brisbane office confirmed she was travelling overseas but neither she nor Mr Palmer responded to questions from The Australian last night.

Westerdam — which has been hit by an outbreak of the vomiting bug norovirus in recent days — heads to Messina, in northern Sicily, before travelling to Malta, Greece, Croatia, Montenegro and Slovenia.

The cruise is due to end in Venice on July 9.

Mr Palmer’s Townsville-based Queensland Nickel company collapsed last year, costing nearly 800 workers their jobs and leaving creditors more than $300m out of pocket. Queensland Nickel’s sole registered ­director — Mr Palmer’s nephew Clive Mensink — has not joined the Palmer clan on the high seas. There is a warrant out for Mr Mensink’s arrest, after he shirked several court orders to return to Australia from a marathon overseas holiday to give evidence about the failed company.

Mr Palmer’s cruise comes amid an ongoing West Australian court hearing to resolve a dispute over potentially billions of dollars in royalties he believes he is owed by his Chinese business partners Citic.

Citic is the operator of the $12 billion Sino Iron mine in the Pilbara, having paid Mr Palmer $US415m in 2006 for the rights to develop the project.