Australian billionaire Clive Palmer has had long-running charges of aiding and abetting in a takeover bid for a timeshare resort company dropped by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
An Australian Securities and Investments Commission investigation previously alleged the billionaire breached takeover laws in a bid to gain control of The President’s Club Ltd in 2012.
Mr Palmer was charged in 2018 with aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the company to commit the offence, however, on Monday those charges were dropped.
Palmer Leisure Coolum Pty Ltd, which the billionaire was a director of, was convicted of the offence last week, and was sentenced to a fine of $10,000.
However, in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday, the CDPP said that it would “not proceed with the charge against Mr Palmer”.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Mr Palmer said: “These charges were a political witch hunt, a waste of time, and came at huge expense to Australian taxpayers.”
Jeff the dinosaur moved into the Coolum resort after the 2011 takeover led by Clive Palmer (right). (Dave Hunt/AAP PHOTOS) Credit: AAP