Related News
Charges laid against four Rio employees
By Wang Xiang |
August 12, 2009, Wednesday
|
Online Edition
Online Edition
FOUR employees of the Shanghai office of the world's second largest mining giant are facing charges of trade secrets infringement and commercial bribery.
A statement released by China's Supreme People's Procuratorate late yesterday said there was evidence of four Rio Tinto employees taking commercial bribes and obtaining secrets about China's iron and steel industry.
The case has disrupted the country's already strained annual iron-ore negotiations with some of the world's biggest miners, including Rio Tinto.
The statement said the conduct of Stern Hu, an Australian employee of Rio, and three other Chinese colleagues violated China's criminal laws. Yet it did not mention the earlier more serious allegation of spying.
When the four were detained in Shanghai in early July, the official Xinhua news agency reported they were detained on charges of stealing China's state secrets from China's steel industry and harming the nation's economic interests, a more serious charge under China's State Security Law.
Rio has said its employees did nothing "unethical" and did not bribe Chinese steel mills for information.
Investigations have also revealed that there were suspects in China's steel and iron enterprises who were providing commercial secrets for them.
"China has a vulnerable economic security system against commercial espionage and our country has entered a peak period of commercial espionage warfare," said Jiang Yong, head of the Department of Economic Security in China's Institute of Contemporary International Relations, as cited by Xinmin Evening News yesterday.
A statement released by China's Supreme People's Procuratorate late yesterday said there was evidence of four Rio Tinto employees taking commercial bribes and obtaining secrets about China's iron and steel industry.
The case has disrupted the country's already strained annual iron-ore negotiations with some of the world's biggest miners, including Rio Tinto.
The statement said the conduct of Stern Hu, an Australian employee of Rio, and three other Chinese colleagues violated China's criminal laws. Yet it did not mention the earlier more serious allegation of spying.
When the four were detained in Shanghai in early July, the official Xinhua news agency reported they were detained on charges of stealing China's state secrets from China's steel industry and harming the nation's economic interests, a more serious charge under China's State Security Law.
Rio has said its employees did nothing "unethical" and did not bribe Chinese steel mills for information.
Investigations have also revealed that there were suspects in China's steel and iron enterprises who were providing commercial secrets for them.
"China has a vulnerable economic security system against commercial espionage and our country has entered a peak period of commercial espionage warfare," said Jiang Yong, head of the Department of Economic Security in China's Institute of Contemporary International Relations, as cited by Xinmin Evening News yesterday.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
