Gina Rinehart’s two estranged children are seeking to claw back profits from the mining magnate’s major iron ore projects which they say are rightfully theirs.
But lawyers for Mrs Rinehart, Australia’s richest person, claim John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart’s latest legal action in their long-running family feud should not be allowed to go ahead because it is an abuse of process.
In an urgent hearing in the Federal Court on Tuesday, lawyers for Mrs Rinehart and her flagship company, Hancock Prospecting, asked Justice Peter Jacobson to suppress details of the childrens’ allegations of fraudulent concealment and deceptive conduct because any publicity could affect the US$10 billion ($11.6 billion) Roy Hill iron ore mining project.
The barrister for Mr Hancock and Bianca Rinehart, Christopher Withers, told the court his clients were seeking a constructive trust and an account of profits of four mining tenements, including Roy Hill and Hope Downs.
John Sheahan QC, for Hancock Prospecting, asked the court to suppress the case until he could apply for a stay on the grounds it was an abuse of process.
Mr Sheahan said Mr Hancock had a history of using “publicity to extract concessions” from his mother.
“They [Mr Hancock and Bianca Rinehart] want to get her money,” he said.
Further, the financiers or investors in Roy Hill could become jittery if it appeared control of the project was now in question, the court heard.
But Mr Withers said the argument that investors “are going to run a mile because of media reporting” is a “hopeless argument” because Hancock Prospecting had to disclose the childrens’ case to investors.
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