Clive Palmer has gone on oath to ridicule an ex-staffer's claims he and his companies breached a secret $5 million job deal.
The mining magnate and federal MP appeared in the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Monday to vigorously defend a $4.6 million lawsuit brought by accountant and former Palmer Coolum Resort general manager Bill Schoch.
Mr Palmer repeatedly denied offering Mr Schoch a five-year, $1 million-per-year deal in 2011 and broke into laughter at suggestions the accountant was his second-in-command in high-level business negotiations.
"He was someone we would send to meetings who had no authority and didn't know what it was about and (had) instructions just to listen and tell us what happened," Mr Palmer said.
"We had the security of knowing he couldn't tell anyone anything because he didn't know anything."
The pair have known each other for four decades and Mr Schoch did accountancy work for Mr Palmer in the 1970s and 1980s.
Mr Schoch claims in 2011 and 2012 he worked closely with Mr Palmer in several business ventures - including the China First project - and was later transferred to manage the Coolum resort.
Last week he testified the terms of his job contract were deliberately kept secret from other employees.
But on Monday Mr Palmer called the claims "a fabrication" and scathingly dismissed Mr Schoch as a "suburban accountant" who had really been "a dogsbody" and "a stooge negotiator".
He said he hired Mr Schoch on a $100,000 salary and "discretionary bonus" out of pity after Mr Schoch approached him "desperate" for employment.
The original agreement had gone missing, Mr Palmer said, though Mr Schoch later signed a new $150,000 contract before he went to Palmer Coolum resort.
Mr Palmer said the first he heard of a $5 million figure was after he'd sacked the poorly-performing Mr Schoch in December 2013.
"I took the view that he was endeavouring to blackmail us because he wanted to create bad publicity because I was a public figure, and try to corner us into making a payment to which he wasn't entitled," Mr Palmer said.
Both sides' lawyers are expected to deliver closing arguments when the trial resumes on Tuesday.
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