Skase-style pursuit for Clive Palmer assets

The Turnbull government is set to launch a Christopher Skase-style pursuit of Clive Palmer’s personal assets within days.

Aerial photo shoot of the Gold Coast - Clive Palmers home at Sovereign Island

Clive Palmer is squarely in the sights of the Turnbull government, which is set to launch a Christopher Skase-style pursuit of the tycoon’s personal assets within days.

The catalyst for a taxpayer-funded bid that could retrieve tens of millions of dollars from Mr Palmer, his relations and companies in Bulgaria, French Polynesia, Australia and elsewhere is the looming liquidation of Queensland Nickel, operator of his failed refinery. The federal government will have the biggest exposure as a creditor of Queensland Nickel because of about $73 million that will be claimed from the public purse to fund the entitlements of about 800 staff.

Senior government figures are bracing for a backlash from the federal parliamentarian when the green light for the pursuit of his cash and assets occurs with the activation of the commonwealth’s Fair Entitlements Guarantee scheme to pay out his staff.

Employment Minister Michaelia Cash yesterday told The ­Australian the government would pursue “every possible legal action” to recover the money so that taxpayers were not short-changed. “It is unconscionable that anyone who does have the money to pay their employees should instead pass on this responsibility to taxpayers,” Senator Cash said late yesterday.

“However, if this does occur, the government will pursue every possible legal avenue available to it to recoup this money for taxpayers from Clive Palmer and his ­associated entities.

“It is utterly unacceptable for employers who have the money to pay employee entitlements to asset-strip companies to avoid these entitlements. It is equally unacceptable that they should use taxpayers to foot the bill.”

Given Queensland Nickel’s inevitable liquidation, recommended by voluntary administrators FTI Consulting, Senator Cash said the government would “assist employees through the FEG ­program, if this is necessary and unavoidable”.

Recovery actions against employers who leave the government with the bill for staff entitlements are overseen by Senator Cash’s department, which is pursuing a textiles company for millions of dollars.

The collapse of Mr Palmer’s company looms as the biggest payout in the history of the FEG scheme. The Queensland Nickel staff entitlements amount to more than $70m, twice as much as the previous record payout, according to Senator Cash’s office.

The federal government ended its decade-long hunt for Skase’s missing millions in 2003, with the pursuit costing taxpayers $2.65m, including $310,290 to bankruptcy trustee Max Donnelly. At the time, the government rubbished claims from Skase’s Spanish lawyer that the cost to taxpayers was $23m, spent chasing after the $177m Skase owed creditors.

The pursuit of Mr Palmer could be more expensive. FTI Consulting estimates it would need to be paid $5m, plus $250,000 in disbursements, to run the liquidation and to recover about $300m owed to Queensland Nickel’s creditors through legal action.

A key target will be the $224m in loans paid by QN to the rest of the Palmer business group, $189m of which were forgiven. Mr Palmer’s other interests, including the Coolum resort that QN bought for $8.1m in 2011, could be targeted for recovery action.

Administrators also found that on November 29, 2012, Mr Palmer instructed QN to transfer $43m to nine “related entities”, including $US15m to SCI Le Coeur De L’Ocean, which The Australian understands was for the ex-Club Med resort Mr Palmer bought that year in Bora Bora, Tahiti.

His parliamentary register lists it as an asset controlled by his wife, Anna, whose father, Alexandar Sokolov, received $US8m on the same day in 2012.

Liquidators are likely to target Mr Palmer’s flagship company Mineralogy — in whose loan ­account the payments were recorded — in an attempt to recover payments to individuals and other related entities. On top of that, administrators estimate legal fees could be at least $1m — the cost of running a complex insolvent trading case — with costs “expected to increase in the event any of the above matters result in formal proceedings being commenced”.

In an insolvent trading case, ­director Clive Mensink and “shadow director” Clive Palmer would be personally targeted.

Mr Palmer stepped up his attack on the administrators’ report yesterday, slamming it as “derogatory” and untrue. He denied having acted as a shadow director, denied QN had traded while insolvent, and denied that questionable payments were made. He released a 90-page Queensland Nickel joint venture agreement, signed in 1992 by previous refinery owners, that he said validated his role in the day-to-day operations of QN and expenditure approvals.

“The truth of the matter is the administrators are embarking on a campaign to secure more funds for their exorbitant fees,” he said.

“They have already paid themselves $4m and are seeking to liquidate Queensland Nickel to pay themselves another $5m.”