Clive Palmer warned his nephew not to "cover his arse" or he would "f--- everything" in an email sent as Queensland Nickel plunged further into financial trouble late last year.
The Federal Court was on Monday read the threatening email to QNI managing director Clive Mensink ordering him not to contact his uncle by email again.
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Clive Palmer: 'you'll be sorry'
Clive Palmer threatens a photographer outside court in Brisbane, saying "you hit my wife again mate and you'll be sorry". Nine News
Mr Mensink has not faced questioning into the company's collapse and was last heard from on a cruise to Helsinki, according to this uncle.
Toward the end of a long second day on the stand on Monday, barrister Tom Sullivan, for PPB Advisory peppered Mr Palmer about the reason for the email, sent on November 20 last year.
Below the subject line, "RE: letter from the treasurer Mr Palmer", via his Terry Smith email account ordered his nephew not to speak to him via email again.
"I told you what to do. Do it," he wrote.
"Do not send me anything to cover your arse or you f--- everything.
"Do not contact me by email again."
When asked what Mr Mensink was covering his arse about, Mr Palmer said he didn't know. What had the resources magnate told him to do? He didn't know.
How would he "f--- everything"? Again, Mr Palmer said he didn't know without the context of the rest of the emails.
He also couldn't recall reducing the use of the Terry Smith account to talk with his nephew from that date and denied talking about keeping their communications "largely oral".
"Then why were you telling him not to contact you by email," an exasperated-sounding Mr Sullivan asked.
"It depends where I was," Mr Palmer replied.
"If I was close by, I'd prefer him come and see me so we can discuss things face to face.
"You achieve a lot more in a face to face meeting than by you do by email correspondence or texting, which are so popular these days."
Mr Palmer left the court in much calmer scenes than Friday, when a photographer was pushed into a bush and the mining mogul accused the media of assaulting his wife.
On Monday afternoon, registrar Murray Belcher knocked back a request for a "special arrangement" to let Mr Palmer enter court through the carpark because of "safety concerns".
Mr Belcher said he wasn't going to "buy into" the barrister's argument that Mr Palmer shouldn't have to face questions about an ongoing hearing.
He said the application would have to be made administratively, out of court.
The hearing continues on Thursday.
EARLIER
Clive Palmer has accused federal and state governments of being "determined to put Queensland Nickel out of business" as he faces prolonged questioning over the company's collapse.
The self-declared billionaire told the Federal Court he came to the conclusion after a meeting with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on October 9 last year, which convinced him not to offer to prop up the ailing Townsville refinery to the tune of $23 million of his own money.
"It would have been just after that time that I realised that political forces which were against me personally we're going to make the whole workforce in north Queensland suffer regardless of what I did," he said, as court proceedings broke for lunch just after 1pm.
Mr Palmer said he'd offered the money to QNI financial officer Daren Wolfe earlier in the year but was told it wasn't necessary.
He clashed with liquidators repeatedly on Monday morning, again maintaining any decision he made was on behalf of a committee he had complete control over, and not his own personal decision.
Mr Palmer claimed to not recall whether he had approved Queensland Nickel, via the Joint Venture Owners Committee, paying the barrister's bills of another Palmer company as it faced legal action in Western Australia.
Another email showed Mr Palmer replying "not approved" to QNI managing director and his nephew, Clive Mensink's, comment of "good to go" on a $1.3 million Microsoft contract.
Liquidators are examining whether Mr Palmer acted as a shadow director of the company before it collapsed with the loss of almost 800 jobs and with debts of about $300 million, which he denies.
He was again questioned repeatedly on Monday over more emails to and from his "Terry Smith" alias account, appearing to ask for his approval of QNI expenditure.
On several occasions he refused to confirm the emails were directed to him, even when they began "Hi Clive" and signed off "Clive".
He told the court he was in the habit of getting other people to write emails from the address but couldn't name one of them.
The phone he used to conduct QNI business, which liquidators wanted to examine, was lost two months ago at a steak restaurant and his staff had contacted Telstra about recovering data, the court heard.
In one email trail from mid-2015, Mr Palmer was asked to approve Queensland Nickel paying legal fees for his company Mineralogy, which was involved in a legal conflict with Chinese company CITIC over the Sino Ore project.
He told the court the request came to him as his role as a director of Mineralogy and as a representative of the Joint Venture Owners Committee governing QNI.
On Friday, Mr Palmer was questioned extensively about a "little green book", filled out entirely in pencil, which purported to give him full authority to wield the power of the committee on his own.
A variation to the joint venture agreement, again written in the outdated diary, purported to give QNI the ability to donate to Mr Palmer's political party and lend money to other Palmer companies, among other things.
Mr Mensink was the only other member of the committee, but Mr Palmer had 80 per cent of the voting rights, ultimate power as chairman and secretary and would often hold meetings with himself or "jot down" ideas, which would "become a resolution".
Mr Mensink featured in many of the emails examined on Monday as he apparently made his way north through Europe.
Liquidators PPB Advisory have been unable to question Mr Mensink, who Mr Palmer said was on a boat somewhere between St Petersburg and Helsinki the last he knew.
After his bodyguards pushed at least one journalist on the way into court, the resources tycoon appeared more animated than his Friday appearance, regularly leaning forward in his chair and gesturing to make a point, and even smiling on a couple of occasions.
Terry Smith is the email address. I'm not Terry Smith, no. My name is Clive Palmer," the magnate responded when barrister Tom Sullivan, QC, asked him whether he was Terry Smith, in relation to an email.
When the barrister asked if Mr Mensink accidentally finished a question about a may 2015 email with "Martin Brewster was your nephew at the time?", Mr Palmer quipped: "he still is."
The former Fairfax MP made his own slip ups, at one stage claiming "prejudice" instead of "privilege" and repeatedly referring to the Joint Venture Owners Committee as the Joint Venture Operating Committee.
Things were much less cordial for most of the session, as Mr Palmer accused the QC of looking at the JVOC agreement "simplistically, like a child" and was accused in turn of being "unresponsive" to questions.
Mr Palmer labelled the examination into the collapse of Queensland Nickel as a "political withchunt", implying Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull influenced the banks against him.
The mining magnate said MrTurnbull promised to speak to the heads of the big banks, which refused QNI's request for a $25 million overdraft in September last year, in a meeting between the pair on October 9.
"The Prime Minister assured me, at my meeting on the ninth of October, he would talk to the heads of all those banks and I'm sure he did, " he said.
"I'm sure they're all contributors to the Liberal Party who are my political opponents.
"You may well ask why are we he today, why aren't we here for someone else, that's because it's a political withchunt.
"Last night I recieved an email from cabinet ministers of the Turnbull government saying have I enjoyed myself."
Mr Palmer said he was happy to show the email to the court.
He earlier told the court that meeting convinced him not to tip his own money into the failing venture, because state and federal governments were "determined to put Queensland Nickel out of business".
Mr Palmer denied Queensland Nickel was trading insolvent as early as June 2015, despite a $5 million gap between available cash and debts.
He agreed a financial document from June 25 showed QNI had about $8 million cash available, with about $13 million in debt.
But he disagreed the document showed the debts were due and owing on that date, saying they could have been met by a cash advance from the joint venture ultimately controlling the refinery.
He agreed the two joint venture companies above the nickel refinery, QNI Metals and QNI Resources, may have forgiven "significant loans" in the 2015 year to other Palmer companies.
The hearing continues.