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BY REUBEN ADAMS
THE QLD Supreme Court has taken the extraordinary step of freezing more than $200m of Clive Palmer’s assets, as Queensland Nickel liquidator PPB Advisory looks to recover millions of dollars allegedly owed by the mining magnate from the 2016 collapse of the refinery.
On 25 May the Supreme Court granted an application by Queensland Nickel liquidators for freezing orders against Mr Palmer and several of his companies.
In Mr Palmer’s case the value specified was $204,943,664.39, but other amounts were specified for the companies concerned.
In its Summary of Judgement, the Court based its decision on its belief that Queensland Nickel liquidators had a good arguable case against Mr Palmer and the companies concerned.
Also, the Court also found there was a “real risk of steps being taken [by Palmer] which would have the effect of inhibiting or frustrating the prospective Court processes of execution and enforcement in respect of any eventual judgment in the plaintiffs’ favour”.
“Mr Palmer and the companies concerned had opposed the conclusion that there was any such risk, but the Court found that particular aspects of Mr Palmer’s previous conduct justified the conclusion that there was a real risk of the requisite nature,” the statement read.
The complex orders made by the Supreme Court apply until final judgment or further order in the proceeding.
In a subsequent interview on ABC’s 7:30 program with Leigh Sales, Mr Palmer insisted that he owes no money.
““Well I don’t owe them any money, that’s the reality of it. The second thing I would say, it’s come out of the court, but not been reported on the ABC, that the administrators of QLD Nickel have gone under oath in the Supreme Court and confirmed that [former QLD Nickel director] Clive Mensink offered to pay all the creditors and all the employees; the administrator refused to do that,” he said.
Ms Sales said the administrators had refuted this claim, calling it “scandalous, defamatory and grossly misleading”.
“They write in this letter dated May 16 2018 that if you were serious about paying your debts to the workers you would have submitted a finalised proposal for a Deed of Company Arrangement, which you never did,” she said.
Mr Palmer also confirmed that he was paying his nephew and former QLD Nickel director Clive Mensink $4000 a week via his Mineralogy Company, despite Mr Mensink being the subject of two arrest warrants after failing to return to Australia from overseas for scheduled court appearances.
