An Australian court on Monday rejected billionaire politician Clive Palmer's attempt to stop a case brought against him by China's CITIC Ltd, and cleared the way for a trial in November.
Palmer wanted the court to throw out CITIC's lawsuit, which alleges he used A$12 million ($10.5 million) that the company had put into a fund meant for operating its iron ore port in Western Australia to help pay for his political campaign in 2013.
Palmer, who is now a member of the Australian upper house Senate, has denied the allegations.
Justice David Jackson said there was a case to be made by CITIC and rejected Palmer's argument that the Chinese company was only bringing the case to embarrass him, amid a two-year-old legal fight between the two sides.
He set the trial for November 26.
"We welcome the court's decision and now look forward to having this matter progress to trial," a CITIC spokesman said in an emailed statement.
The case is one strand of a wider legal fight over royalties CITIC owes Palmer's company Mineralogy from the loss-making $10 billion Sino Iron project, China's biggest overseas mining project.
"CITIC is merely using the courts to delay payments for the mining royalties to Mineralogy," Palmer's spokesman said in an emailed statement.
The Chinese company bought the rights to the project from Palmer in 2006, and began shipping iron ore last December, more than three years behind schedule and at quadruple the project's expected cost.
