The summons brought against Clive Palmer by ASIC was part of ASIC’S ongoing attempts to cover up its failures in not acting against the Australian banks involved in ripping off ordinary Australians, Mr Palmer stated in Brisbane today.
“All Australians know that it was ASIC that failed to carry out its functions that allowed the banks to destroy the lives of so many Australian families,’’ Mr Palmer said.
“While the chairmen and CEOs of the banks resigned, ASIC’S chairman and his commissioners are still there being funded by the Australian taxpayer.
“ASIC has a track record of bringing high profile people before the court on baseless matters only to lose as they did with Andrew Forrest. Rather than properly carry out its function, it targets high profile people to cover up its own failures.”
Mr Palmer stated: “There was no merit in the ASIC summons and it would be shown to be yet another ASIC embarrassment.
“It is of no concern to me, no concern at all because the matters set out are not true. There is no allegation that I received any payment or benefit and they have not mentioned any company because they are embarrassed to do so.
“The ASIC summons relates to two payments that were paid by Mineralogy from its own account with its own money approved by its sole director and its sole beneficial shareholder, me.
“There is no claim in the ASIC summons that anyone was deprived of any money and there is no alleged victim. The only victim is the truth. The ASIC summons has no basis in law and will be shown to be an embarrassment to Australian justice,” Mr Palmer said.
“ASIC was now seeking to win cases based on publicity. Its commissioner John Price, in breach of ASIC policy guidelines, told the Senate on February 16th 2018, something to the effect that ASIC would find something to charge me with.
“The ASIC summons is a result of ASIC being unable to charge me with anything because I committed no offence and in desperation to preserve ASIC, John Price and James Shipton’s reputations.
“The events stem from matters in 2013 when Mineralogy was dealing with its own money, no-one else’s.
“At that time I was involved in an ongoing legal battle with Chinese government-owned companies who were attempting to steal Australian resources and control our country.
“Chinese government-owned Citic Limited instigated these matters when Citic representatives met with and provided documents to police. In 2014 the Western Australian police and Queensland police announced investigations.
“Now six years after those announcements when no charges have been brought by either police force against anyone, ASIC, after meeting with Chinese representatives, issues a summons against me,’’ Mr Palmer said.
“I see these baseless charges supporting the Chinese government’s attempts to infiltrate and coerce Australian institutions for commercial advantage, to exploit Australia and its wealth for their own purposes.
“In 2015, Citic commenced legal proceeding in the Supreme Court of Queensland against me personally for no other reason but to damage my name and reputation and in essence blackmail me to let them take Australian resources without paying for them,’’ Mr Palmer said.
“In the Supreme Court of Queensland in the case of Sino Iron Pty Ltd & An or v Palmer & Anor (N0 3) 120151 QSC 94, His Honour Jackson, J found in his judgment that the commercial agreement that related to a Mineralogy bank account was not a trust.
“Despite Citic pushing for it, his Honour declined to make any finding of dishonesty against me. Both Mineralogy and I declined to call any evidence and relied on the commercial agreement not being a trust,’’ Mr Palmer said.
In the judgment of Jackson, J findings were made at paragraph 78, lines 2 to 6, that:
“First, the contributions in the present case were not a loan. Second, there was no failure of the purpose for which the contributions were made. In this case, the contributions were in the nature of a pre-payment on account of expenses to be incurred. The expenses were to be incurred by Mineralogy in carrying on its business. It was not doing so on behalf of the plaintiffs.”
Mr Palmer said: “Now five years after the Chinese failed to get judgement in the Queensland Supreme Court and five years after the Jackson judgement, ASIC bring these false charges and accusations against me personally. ASIC is doing the Chinese governments’ bidding in their quest to control our country.
“There is no accusation in the ASIC summons that I received any benefit whatsoever or that any person was denied or lost any property. The summons is a nonsense. There are serious questions to be answered over ASIC and its administration, serious questions that need to be answered in the national interest,’’ he said.
“When I was elected to the House of Representatives in 2013 by the Australian people, I took the protection of Australia’s national interest as my top priority and I still do. All Australians should know that I don’t seek to resile from these matters but to meet them head on in the interests of the Australian people.
“Revelations of the ASIC summons come after the High Court of Australia refused to grant leave to Citic to appeal against judgements that have been made in the Supreme Court of Western Australia and the Western Australian Court of Appeal against Citic for their failures to pay Mineralogy hundreds of millions of dollars of royalty since 2013,’’ Mr Palmer said.
ENDS