China has indicted four employees of Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto on charges of bribery and violating commercial secrets, opening the way to a trial in a case which has tested Sino-Australian relations.
The four include Australian citizen Stern Hu (胡士泰), Xinhua news agency said.
Hu, Rio Tinto’s lead iron ore negotiator in China, and three other staff from China were arrested last July and remain in detention in a commercial secrets case that was referred to a prosecutor last month.
The indictment means they will face trial, but the report did not give a date for any hearing.
Xinhua cited the procuratorate, or prosecutor’s office, as saying: “The accused four, including Stern Hu, exploited their positions to seek gain for others, and numerous times either sought or illegally accepted massive bribes from a number of Chinese steel firms.”
“Many times they used personal inducements and other improper means to obtain commercial secrets from Chinese steel firms, causing serious consequences for the steel firms concerned,” Xinhua said.
“It is understood that the Shanghai Municipal First Intermediate People’s Court has accepted this case according to the law,” Xinhua said.
The case placed a cloud over already contentious iron ore price negotiations between China and Rio, Australian miner BHP Billiton and Brazil’s Vale as well as government-to-government ties.
China is Australia’s biggest trade partner at US$53 billion last year. Australia exported US$15 billion worth of iron ore to China in 2008, or 41 percent of China’s iron ore imports.
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