Clive Palmer will seek a high court injunction to halt questioning over the collapse of Queensland Nickel, as he faces his third day of examinations by liquidators.
It is Palmer’s third attempt to avoid questioning by liquidators, after two unsuccessful federal court applications before he took the stand last Friday.
Palmer will apply to remove special purpose liquidators, PPB Advisory, who were appointed on behalf of the federal government to recover $65m in entitlements paid to sacked QN workers.
The matter is listed to appear at 2.15pm before Justice Susan Kiefel. Barrister Tom Sullivan acting for PPB Advisory has led questioning of Palmer since last week in often heated exchanges.
Clive Palmer on Thursday continued to be grilled over his role in QN and whether he is bankrolling a European vacation that has kept his nephew at the centre of Queensland Nickel’s collapse absent during the federal court examinations.
Palmer said his nephew Clive Mensink, QN’s sole registered director, continued to work for his now-mothballed refinery joint venture and draw a salary.
Asked by the liquidator’s examiner Tom Sullivan whether Palmer or his companies were directly paying for any of Mensink’s travel expenses, the former federal MP said: “Not that I’m aware of.”
Asked how Mensink – who was last said to be on a Helsinki to St Petersburg cruise – was funding his trip, Palmer said: “That’s a matter for him.”
Palmer, who last week undertook to find out when Mensink planned to come back to Australia, said they had spoken again in the past two days but his nephew still had not indicated a return date.
Palmer in his third day of testimony to the court continued to be questioned about his directions given orally and in writing to staff at QN before its demise this year left almost 800 jobless and debts of about $300m.
He spoke of being “a very angry person” towards Mensink over his management of QN in the months leading to its collapse.
Administrators FTI Consulting, now QN’s liquidators, alleged in a report to creditors that Palmer had acted as a shadow director of QN and that he and Mensink had appeared to act “recklessly” in possible breach of the Corporations Act.
FTI flagged the possibility of recovering “unreasonable director related transactions”, with $189m in loans from QN coffers to parties related to Palmer being “forgiven” by the company since June 2012.
Liquidators are also using the hearings to probe for evidence of insolvent trading by the company as alleged by administrators. Such a finding could expose Palmer and Mensink to legal liability.
The absent Mensink issued a statement before court saying he planned to take separate action to remove FTI Consulting’s John Park as liquidator, accusing Park of corporate breaches.
Mensink said FTI Consulting’s activities on QN’s behalf took place “well before” it entered administration in January 2016 included “saying their US parent venture capital fund may be interested in providing financial assistance”.
Palmer has denied any wrongdoing and continued on Thursday to insist he was entitled to direct QN staff as to spending and contracts as an authorised delegate of a committee representing the refinery’s joint venture owners, two wholly-owned Palmer companies that were QN’s parent entities.
Palmer said he often directed Mensink on matters such as contracts but was doing so not as an individual, but on the committee’s behalf.
Mensink was the only other member of the committee.
