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Rio employees face trade secrets, bribery charges
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Thursday, August 13
SHANGHAI - China stopped short of laying politically explosive espionage charges against four employees of Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto Ltd., accusing them of infringing trade secrets and bribery in a case that has strained ties with key trading partner Australia.
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Investigations showed the four, including Stern Hu, an Australian citizen who headed Rio Tinto's iron ore business in China, obtained commercial secrets about China's steel and iron industries through "improper means" and were involved in bribery, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday.
Rio Tinto and the Australian government appealed to Beijing to allow Hu legal representation and to handle the case in a transparent way.
"Rio Tinto will strongly support its employees in defending these allegations," Sam Walsh, the company's iron ore chief executive, said in a written statement. "From all the information available to us, we continue to believe that our employees have acted properly and ethically in their business dealings in China."
Walsh appealed for a "transparent legal process."
News of the arrests also was reported Wednesday on the Web site of the China Procuratorial Daily, which is run by the Supreme People's Procuratorate _ China's top prosecutorial organ.
The reports made no mention of earlier, more serious accusations of stealing state secrets, which China's state-controlled media had said the four would face.
Hu and three Chinese national working for the miner were detained July 5 amid contentious ore price talks with Chinese steel mills.
The earlier Chinese media reports accused Hu of paying bribes in exchange for information on China's negotiating stance in those talks. Some reports said Hu's actions amounted to stealing state secrets, and a Chinese diplomat said in July that China had told Australia it had "ample evidence" that Hu and his three co-workers stole state secrets.
Xinhua said Chinese prosecutors had found evidence of bribery. It said some individuals in Chinese steel and iron companies were suspected of providing the Rio employees with commercial secrets, but it gave no specific details.
Australia is a key supplier of iron ore and other resources for China's fast-growing economy, and the case has added to friction after Rio Tinto's decision in June to drop a $19.5 billion deal with the state-controlled Aluminum Corp. of China. Chinalco, as the Chinese company is better known, later subscribed to a $15.2 billion share issue to maintain a 9 percent stake in Rio Tinto.
The Australian side has expressed concern over the handling of the case and worries that that Hu, who was born in China, may not receive a fair trial.
China's deputy commerce minister rebuffed those fears.
"We believe Chinese judicial organs will make a fair ruling on the case based on the facts and in accordance with law. There is no question about that," Fu Ziying told a news conference Wednesday.
Fu said the case was an isolated incident that reflects the government's determination to create a competitive, open and fair market environment in China.
"This will not hurt China's efforts in terms of attracting foreign direct investment. On the contrary, we believe this will benefit China's attraction of foreign direct investment," Fu said. He added it should not affect relations with Australia.
Australia's foreign affairs department was informed about the arrests and charges late Tuesday by China's Ministry of Public Security.
"We encourage China to allow Mr. Hu all the protections available under Chinese law, including access to legal representation, now that he has been formally arrested," the department said in a statement.
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