AceBusinessDesk – Billionaire businessman and former politician Clive Palmer has lost his Court of Appeal bid to have criminal charges against him and his company thrown out, with three judges determining he “abused” the court process.

Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Feb.07: 2024: ABC Business News: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

In the decision handed down today, Justice Jean Dalton said the delay Mr Palmer and his legal team caused, involving two matters, “were an abuse of the process of this court because they interfered with the proper administration of criminal justice according to law”.

The first matter in the complaint relates to the Coolum Resort prosecution.

In 2018, charges were brought against Mr Palmer and his company, Palmer Leisure Coolum, by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) over a failed takeover bid of timeshare villas in 2012.

The second complaint, dubbed the “Cosmo prosecution”, relates to further ASIC charges, relating to Mr Palmer’s political party, the Palmer United Party.

In 2020, Mr Palmer was charged with two counts each of dishonestly using his position as a director and fraudulently gaining a benefit for alleged multi-million dollar bankrolling to fund his successful 2013 political campaign to enter federal parliament.

It’s alleged the billionaire businessman transferred more than $12 million through his flagship company Mineralogy via two companies, Media Circus Network and Cosmo Developments, between August 5 and September 5, 2013.

According to ASIC, Mr Palmer authorised both transfers from Mineralogy “contrary to the purpose for which the funds were being held” in two separate transactions.

It’s alleged this was done dishonestly for the benefit of the Palmer United Party.

Later in 2013, Mr Palmer was elected to the House of Representatives as MP for the federal seat of Fairfax on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, while three PUP candidates became senators.

Palmer and company ordered to pay costs

In 2021, Mr Palmer and his company, Leisure, filed a matter in the Supreme Court for the Coolum Resort proceeding against the magistrates court, ASIC and the Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecutions, in an attempt to have the charges dismissed, with summary judgement applications.

His lawyers claimed the case was “doomed to fail” and sought a declaration that the Commonwealth criminal proceeding brought against him was “an abuse of process”.

The Supreme Court matter for the Cosmo proceeding sought similar orders.

In response to the claim, the Commonwealth defendants applied for a permanent stay of the proceedings, claiming bringing the matter before the Supreme Court, rather than allowing it to continue in the criminal jurisdiction, was “an abuse of process which disrupted and dislocated the criminal proceedings on the prosecutions”.

The primary judge in that case granted the permanent stay and refused an application for a summary judgement for both the Coolum Resort and the Cosmo proceedings.

In his Court of Appeal decision, Justice Dalton noted that “such a decision can only be made in an exceptional case”.

Mr Palmer’s lawyers appealed the decision to permanently stay the matters, claiming it was “erroneous”.

In today’s Court of Appeal decisions, the three judges agreed the primary judge’s order was correct, but there were some elements they didn’t agree with.

“There are aspects of the primary judge’s reasons which I think are erroneous,” Justice Dalton wrote.

“Nonetheless, my view is that the primary judge’s decision to characterise both the Cosmo and Coolum Resort proceedings as abuses of process which should be permanently stayed was correct.

“It was not demonstrated that either the Cosmo prosecution or the Coolum Resort prosecution was doomed to fail.”

Editor says Sterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of external sites or any reports, posts, or links. Thanks for following, as always; I appreciate every like, reblog, retweet, and comment. Thank you

@acenewsservices

Mr Palmer and his company have been ordered to pay costs.