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The Spin Doctor of Australia's Richest Lawmaker Arrested On Kidnapping Charges

Australian billionaire, Clive Palmer, has faced his fair share of scandals, the latest being kidnapping charges brought against his chief media advisor.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Australian billionaire politician Clive Palmer has had his fair share of colorful scandals during his ascension to become one of the key power brokers in Australian politics. On Friday, the most serious allegations hit his fledgling political party, after one of his senior aides was detained, accused of kidnapping a bank executive in Indonesia.

Andrew Crook, Palmer's chief media adviser, was arrested in police raids in Brisbane on Friday morning. The Palmer United Party (PUP) holds two votes crucial for passing legislation in the Australian senate.

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"It's very elaborate, and it's bizarre", Detective Superintendent Mick Niland of the Queensland Police said of the charges brought against Crook at a press conference Friday. Crook is accused of kidnapping an executive of the National Australia Bank (NAB) in Indonesia in January of 2013.

Detective Inspector Phil Stevens added, "It's a big effort. It reads like a Hollywood script."

When the ABC questioned Palmer about the arrest, he responded, "I think this is a black day for Australia if any of this — which I don't know anything about at the moment — has anything to do with political freedom in this country."

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Palmer, an Australian mining magnate, is never far from headlines. He is building a recreation of the Titanic; his companies have been reportedly charged with toxic dumping into the Great Barrier Reef; the Australian National Trust has named him a living national treasure; and he is currently in a legal dispute with a Chinese state-owned mining company which claims he spent $12 million dollars of invested mining interests to pay for his political campaign.

Palmer began his political career in May, 2013 when he established the PUP after falling out with Australia's major conservative party — to which he had been a substantial donor. He donated $204,000 to the Liberal National Party in Queensland over the 2011/12 financial year.

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The PUP won three senate seats and a place for Palmer himself in the lower house in the 2013 Federal election. One senator, Jacqui Lambie has since split from the party.

The votes of Palmer's two remaining senators are generally needed by the Liberal Party government to pass legislation, making Palmer a major power player in national politics.

Commenting on the arrest of his media adviser, Palmer seemed convinced that his own rise as a political force was a factor in Crook's arrest.

"The LNP, the Liberal Government - Campbell Newman and Tony Abbott - don't like the opposition we've been giving them in the Senate," Palmer told the Australian Broadcasting Company, referring to the Premier of Queensland and Australian Prime Minister, respectively.

"I don't know very much other than to say that Crook Media and Andrew Crook are responsible for all our media in Australia, was responsible for the Palmer United Party winning the last federal election," he added.

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Since assuming office, Palmer has played an unusual role in Australian politics. The conservative multi-billionaire has actually prevented the Australian government from introducing fees for Australians visiting doctors, and forced the government into a backflip over abolishing Australia's Climate Change Authority.

Crook, along with a former Australian Rules Football player, Tony Smith, and a former Queensland detective, Mick Featherstone, are believed to have kidnapped the NAB executive over a court case.

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Smith was reportedly engaged in a $70 million civil suit against NAB in 2012 that was dismissed. The kidnapped NAB executive was a star witness, and it is alleged the three men planned to intimidate the executive into recanting his evidence.

"It will be alleged the employee [from the NAB] willingly attended the island in the belief that they were going to take part in a lucrative job interview," Queensland police said in a media briefing.

The bank executive was strip searched, prevented from leaving, and intimidated into recording a video statement recanting his evidence. Police added that a "48-year-old man," believed to be Crook, enticed the executive to the island using Palmer's name.

Authorities have made clear they believe Palmer had no knowledge of the plot, and are not seeking to interview him over the matter.

Crook received bail on Friday afternoon and will face trial in the New Year.

Follow Scott Mitchell on Twitter: @s_mitchell