Prison for four Rio Tinto executives in China

Shanghai, China (News Terupdate) - A Shanghai court has sentenced an Australian mining executive to seven years for bribery and five years for stealing commercial secrets in the Rio Tinto case.

Executive Stern Hu's admission of accepting bribes led to leniency, the court said, reducing his sentence to 10 years total.

Hu also has to pay a fine of $73,240 (500,000 yuan).

The case against Hu and three other employees of the British-Australian company was closely watched over fears of a government crackdown on foreign companies doing business in China.

Wake-up call for foreign firms in China

The other defendants also were sentenced:

-- Wang Yong received 13 years for bribery and three years for stealing commercial secrets. He was accused of receiving the largest bribe, almost $9 million, prosecutors said.

-- Ge Minqiang received eight years.

-- Liu Caikui received seven years.

It was not immediately clear what Ge and Liu were sentenced for.

None of the employees showed emotion as the verdicts were read.

The three-day trial last week was closed to foreign media. Australian consular officials were allowed in the Shanghai courtroom for the bribery phase of the case, but were barred from witnessing the theft portion.

Because of the closed-door trial, it was not clear what evidence prosecutors presented on the charge of stealing commercial secrets.

"Please kindly understand me that my colleagues and I are obliged to keep any and all information related to (that charge) in the most strict confidence," said Hu's lawyer, Jin Chunqing.

On the bribery charges, Hu admitted taking money -- almost $1 million -- on two occasions from two steel mills in northern China, his lawyer said.

"He indicated to police, prosecutor, judge and his lawyers that he was proud of his being clean in this chaotic industry and he truly stuck to his principle for nearly 15 years," Jin said. "But just within a short while of two to three months, he invaded his boundary and ruined his reputation."

Hu was worried that Rio Tinto would be acquired by another company, with his position eliminated, Jin said.

Hu was 50, with a wife and children. He also tended to his ailing parents and parents-in-law and wanted to help two childhood friends, Jin said.

He is accused of receiving two bribes: one for 1 million yuan ($146,490) and another for 5.3 million yuan ($790,000).

The Chinese government initially accused the four of stealing state secrets when they were first detained, but the charges were reduced to theft of commercial secrets several months ago.

Hu and the others were detained in July -- a month after Rio Tinto broke off an investment deal with China state-owned Chinalco, a resources company, that was worth more than $19 billion.

The deal with Chinalco was signed in February 2009 and was awaiting a review by Australia's foreign investment board.

The deal soured as opposition party members in Australia ratcheted up their disapproval, saying it would put Australian resources at strategic risk.

Others saw the deal as an alliance that would further link resource-rich Australia with the commodities-hungry Chinese market.

Source : CNN

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