Prosecutors in the case against billionaire Clive Palmer, who is facing several charges including fraud, have urged for the matter to progress faster, as a Brisbane magistrate admonished Palmer’s barrister for holding up a busy court.
Palmer was charged by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission over alleged fraud and breaches of his duties as director of his company, Palmer Leisure Coolum, and has been fighting the charges for years.
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During a mention of the case in the Brisbane Magistrates Court this morning, the court heard Palmer’s legal team had made a series of applications, including one that related to complaints of abuse of process.
“Ultimately, this matter needs to progress in some way given the dates of these applications, some of them were from August last year,” Commonwealth prosecutor April Freeman told the court.
Magistrate Aaron Simpson repeatedly questioned how long today’s case would take, given the matter had been listed in the callover court which is used for routine mentions and adjournments only.
“This is a callover court, this is not for argument … I’m just getting concerned, this is getting bigger than Ben Hur,” he said.
It comes days after Palmer’s legal team filed to sue former ASIC chairman James Shipton in the Federal Court. In a public statement about the suit, Palmer accused Shipton of acting “beyond his authority” while ASIC chairman, causing Palmer “loss and damage”.
Palmer’s case is due back in court in August.
Source Agencies
