From The Australian:
The Australian has obtained a document in which Mr Palmer warns “the livelihood of over 1000 employees (of his) group and associated companies depends upon” receiving an urgent payment from the company, CITIC Pacific.
The warnings in the leaked March 13 document show that the tycoon is desperate for cash as his main businesses, a nickel refinery in Townsville and a Sunshine Coast resort, continue to rack up heavy losses.
…The March document from Mr Palmer states: “By way of comment, if the loss of employment to over 1000 Australian families results from (CITIC) failing to honour their obligations to Australian companies, it will do irreparable damage to the goodwill between the respective parties and between Australia and China’s relations.”
An investigation by The Australian has identified a litany of broken promises, job cuts, false claims and poor operational decisions directly linked to Mr Palmer’s businesses.
Staff with specialist expertise in nickel production and hospitality have quit in frustration or been fired and replaced by Mr Palmer’s friends without experience in the field.
Mr Palmer yesterday accused The Australian of “running a beat-up” on him and claimed it was due to Rupert Murdoch (chairman of News Corporation, publisher of the newspaper), deciding to “support Tony Abbott in government”.
At a Melbourne media conference, Mr Palmer said of his Townsville nickel refinery: “It’s still open and operating and of course I get a lot of money and I have enough money to keep it open for the next 10 years, there’s no problem about that and I am strongly committed to that.”
Asked how he sustained losses, he said: “Because I earn $500m a year in royalties in Western Australia from the Chinese”…But Mr Palmer’s claim that he earns $500m a year in royalties is contradicted by CITIC Pacific corporate filings and by the document obtained by The Australian.
God knows where the truth is in this game of thrones but one hopes that the man committed to building the Titanic II has enough dough to push ahead.
