Corporate watchdog says criminal investigation is nearly complete and it is in discussions about way forward

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A criminal investigation into Clive Palmer and the collapse of Queensland Nickel is nearly finished and the corporate regulator is in discussions with other government agencies about what to do next, federal parliament has been told.

“We are at the point where we are in discussions with other government agencies about the appropriate way forward,” the Australian Securities and Investments Commission commissioner, John Price, told a parliamentary committee on Friday.

“I wish to assure the committee that our investigations are well advanced.”

Palmer, whose Palmer United Party spent an estimated $60m on garish TV advertisements in the run up to May’s election, already faces a possible jail term after being charged over his Palmer Coolum Resort.

Clive Palmer held court in the Queensland Nickel trial. Then he settled Read more

Last month he settled a $200m civil claim brought by the liquidators of Queensland Nickel, which collapsed in 2016.

Liquidators accused Palmer of using the company as a personal piggybank, and attacked transactions including the payment of millions of dollars to relatives and his personal Hong Kong bank account.

They referred Palmer to Asic for possible prosecution in April 2016, telling the regulator possible offences included criminal breaches of director’s duties.

Price told the parliamentary committee that as part of its investigation Asic “issued over 180 statutory notices in respect of information that we wanted to review”.

He said Asic had also reviewed more than eight terabytes of emails and interviewed Palmer, members of his family and professional advisers.

“More recently we’ve received an extra 32 terabytes of data, which we’re reviewing,” he said.

Meanwhile, Palmer’s existing criminal case is due back before the courts next week.

He is charged with a breach of takeovers laws resulting from an episode in 2012 where another of his companies allegedly said it would buy the Coolum resort from existing investors but then failed to offer to buy their shares within a two-month time limit set down in the Corporations Act.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of two years jail or a fine of $11,000.

Palmer is to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court next Friday for a mention.