Where are all the half smart arse people who had Clive in jail over the $M12?
From The Financial Review of about an hour or so ago.
Quote: May 4 2015 at 10:02 AM Updated May 4 2015 at 12:40 PM
Citic Pacific case against Clive Palmer over 'missing' $12m dismissed
Clive Palmer has won a major court victory over Chinese-owned Citic Pacific.
by Mark Ludlow
Resources owner turned federal MP Clive Palmer has won a major victory after the Supreme Court dismissed Chinese-owned company Citic Pacific's court case against the alleged misappropriation of $12 million from an iron ore project in Western Australia.
In the culmination of a long-running legal skirmish between Mr Palmer's company Mineralogy and Citic Pacific, Supreme Court justice David Jackson on Monday ruled in favour of Mr Palmer saying the money used from a port fund was not a trust.
The victory is significant for Mr Palmer who is also battling Citic over unpaid royalties over the $10 billion Sino Iron case in Western Australia.
Citic had accused Mr Palmer of dishonestly transferring $12 million which was supposed to be used for port services and using it to partly fund advertising for the Palmer United Party ahead of the 2013 election. They alleged he then created a sham account to cover his tracks.
Lawyers for Citic and its subsidiaries, Sino Iron and Korean Steel, argued Mr Palmer was in breach of trust when he moved the money out of the National Australia Bank account in 2013.
But Justice Jackson dismissed Citic's case saying the bank account was not a trust and therefore Mr Palmer had no case to answer.
"The plaintiff's claim is dismissed," Justice Jackson said in his 44-page judgement.
He noted it was "curious" the court case had continued, despite the fact Mineralogy had already re-paid the $12 million to Citic in January this year.
"Neither the plaintiffs nor the defendants disclosed that fact to the court at the time. By January 29, it was apparent from the material filed after the earlier hearing that payment of the $12,167,000 had been made," Justice Jackson said.
While Justice Jackson said it was not necessary to rule on allegations of dishonesty by Mr Palmer, the Palmer United Party leader did cop some criticism for attempting to cover his tracks about the transfer of the money by creating a written contract after the fact.
"There is circumstantial evidence to support the finding by inference, which I make, that the first defendant [Palmer] knew that the payments were made in breach of Mineralogy's promises to pay only the authorised costs and reimbursements under clause five of the facilities deed," he said.
Justice Jackson found Mr Palmer knew that the $10 million payment to Cosmo Development (one of Mr Palmer's companies) and $2 million to advertising agency Media Circus were not authorised payments.
But the court case - which has been the focus of the media for the past six months - hinged on the narrow definition of whether the bank account was a trust.
Mr Palmer has said the court case over the alleged misappropriation of $12 million, was a politically motivated attack by the Chinese government, and a distraction from the main court case over the royalties in WA.
In a statement released on Monday, Mineralogy said it was glad justice had finally been done in the matter.
"Today's ruling has shown that all of the implied innuendos were complete fabrication and politically motivated," the statement said.
A comment was being sought from Citic.
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