Rio Tinto / China Scandal

More interesting insights from the webstie 'steelguru'

Good lesson on how things 'are done'.

In other reports It seems that the people paying the bribes are subject to different rules to the rio execs. Mr Du Shuanghua is China's 8th richest man and friends of the very top in Chines Govt! 

Interesting stuff. The world is watching that one for sure.

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SMH reported that not all of Rio Tinto's iron ore sales in China were managed through Mr Stern Hu as the ore from one Pilbara operation, Robe River, was channeled through a separate sales team that included Mr Wang Yong, who has been accused of accepting USD 9 million in bribes.


It seems Mr Hu and two staff who reported directly to him, Ge Minqiang and Liu Caikui, have broadly admitted the bribery charges against them. But not Mr Wang, who reported to a different manager.

According to a Shanghai media report yesterday, the only lively portion of this week's Shanghai court proceedings took place when prosecutors read out testimony from Mr Du detailing how he paid a USD 9 million "good deed" fee to a company controlled by Mr Wang in Hong Kong.

Mr Wang explained that he wanted to invest in the Hong Kong stock exchange but could not find a way of getting the money across the border, via his brother's trading company. Mr Wang said he asked Mr Du to lend USD 9 million to his company in Hong Kong, and Mr Du obliged. Mr Wang's brother's company repaid the loan.

It is widely known within the Chinese steel industry that Mr Wang's brother controls a trading company. It is less widely known that one of Mr Wang's key client relationships was with a smart and fearless private entrepreneur called Mr Du Shuanghua. About four years ago Rio Tinto's strategic planners in Australia resolved to allocate a huge new contract of Robe River ore to Mr Du's Rizhao Steel.

Mr Wang's alleged money trail may ultimately show that Rio Tinto's internal governance systems were not as effective as the company's executives had hoped.

Journalists from a number of Chinese newspapers who were gathered outside the court gates were ordered not to publish their stories, according to local media sources. By last night the National Business News story had also been pulled from the internet.

(Sourced from SMH and Business Day)

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