BEIJING // Stern Hu, the Australian iron ore executive for Rio Tinto in China, has pleaded guilty in a Shanghai court to bribery charges, says the lawyer for one of Mr Hu's colleagues who is facing the same charge.
The case has had a high international profile, particularly as the four were arrested soon after Rio Tinto rejected a US$19.5 billion (Dh71.61bn) investment by the Aluminium Corporation of China (Chinalco), a state-owned company based in Beijing.
Mr Hu was accused of receiving about 6 million yuan (Dh3.2m) of bribes, the lawyer said yesterday.
The Australian executive and three Chinese citizens have been held in custody since July last year and could face prison sentences of between five and 15 years on the bribery charges alone.
Tao Wuping represented Mr Hu's colleague, Liu Caikui, at yesterday's hearing at the Shanghai court, where media coverage was restricted. Mr Liu, who faces bribery charges involving about 3.7m yuan, "doesn't plan to plead innocence", Mr Tao said.
Another defendant, Wang Yong, is facing charges for amounts totalling 70m yuan, while the fourth, Ge Mingqiang, is accused of taking bribes of 6.9m yuan, said Mr Tao, who added that prosecutors were asking for jail terms of more than five years for the bribery charges.
The court's website says the four also infringed commercial secrets.
Last month, prosecutors issued indictments that said the men had on several occasions sought or accepted illegal bribes from Chinese steel firms and had "exploited their positions to seek gain for others".
The charges are thought to relate to talks held last year over iron ore prices, with Chinese steel makers having rejected Rio Tinto's offer of a 33 per cent price cut.
This year's negotiations have also run into difficulties, with the China Iron and Steel Association having said this month that Chinese steel makers were unhappy with proposals from Rio Tinto, Vale and BHP Billiton, the largest suppliers, to increase prices by 90 per cent.
The fraud case has had a high profile in Australia and the country's prime minister, Kevin Rudd, said close attention would be paid to the trial. "China has a different legal system to Australia," Mr Rudd said. "China has a different legal system to the rest of the world. The world will be watching very closely how the trial is handled."
Other Australian politicians have said the trial should be held in public. Foreign reporters were barred from yesterday's proceedings, while Chinese journalists and Tom Connor, the Australian consul general, were allowed entry, although diplomats are likely to be excluded from parts of the proceedings relating to the breaching of commercial confidentiality.
The Chinese authorities have insisted they will "fully guarantee" the rights of the four defendants.
Tom Albanese, the chief executive of Rio Tinto, said yesterday in Beijing his company, the third-largest mining firm in the world, needed a "positive relationship" with China.
"I can only say we respectfully await the outcome of the Chinese legal process," Mr Albanese said. "This issue is obviously of great concern to us, as it would be for any company operating in China."
Chinalco last week agreed to pay $1.35bn for a 44.65 per cent stake in a Rio Tinto iron ore project in Guinea. Chinalco is also the largest shareholder in Rio Tinto, which has its headquarters in Melbourne and London.
Last year, Rio Tinto's sales to China reached almost a quarter of its total revenue, up from less than a fifth the year before, and overtaking sales to North America and Europe. Since 2004, the proportion of Rio Tinto sales to China has doubled.
Vivienne Bath, an associate professor at the Sydney Law School at the University of New South Wales, said the Chinese authorities were keen for the trial to send a message that fraud was unacceptable in China.
"What they are interested in is a clean business environment generally, and that puts you on notice that giving or taking bribes is not an acceptable way of doing business in China," Ms Bath said.
* with Bloomberg
business@thenational.ae
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Test
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Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
more from Janine di Giovanni
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
