Clive Palmer, in two meetings with himself, approved more than $180 million in payments from Queensland Nickel to family, his business empire and himself, court documents show.
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The November 21 retrospective approval, revealed in an affidavit tendered to the Supreme Court by the company's former chief financial officer Daren Wolfe, covered almost 30 payments stretching from 2011 to 2014.
It was not the first time Mr Palmer has held meetings with himself to ratify key company actions, according to his own testimony, as liquidators attempted to claw back millions from the failed company in 2016, to the Federal Court hearings.
The Townsville-based refinery collapsed in early 2016 under $300 million in debt, leaving almost 800 employees without work.
The payments stretched from 2011 to 2014 and included $15 million in payments to himself, more than $5 million to two women reportedly living in Kazakhstan and Hong Kong, more than $7 million to father-in-law Alex Sokolov and tens of millions to other Palmer companies.
Almost $58 million also went to working capital payments for the run-down Palmer Coolum Resort.
Mr Palmer did not respond to calls to comment on Tuesday.
According to Mr Wolfe's affidavit, Mr Palmer chaired the November 21 meetings, lasting just four minutes each, for Queensland Nickel's parent companies QNI Resources and QNI Metals.
He was listed as the only person present for the three Queensland Nickel-related companies involved. A Michael Mashayanyika, who describes himself on LinkedIn as the general manager of the Palmer Coolum Resort, attended as an "observer".
"It was resolved to ratify all actions taken by directors and officers of the company on behalf of the company during the period from 31 July 2009 to 1 September 2016," the minutes noted.
In separate Federal Court hearings last year, Mr Palmer said he held a meeting on September 1, 2016, to ratify the contents of a "little green book" purporting to give him wide-ranging powers over the company.
He told the court the meeting was held to "annoy" the special purpose liquidator appointed to retrieve almost $70 million in taxpayer funds paid out to sacked workers and consisted, in that instance, of himself, Mr Wolfe and a third unnamed person.
Earlier in the hearings, he told the court he had meetings with himself to decide Queensland Nickel business on behalf of a controlling committee.
