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The Rio Tinto espionage case began with the arrest on 5 July 2009, of four staff in the Shanghai office of the Rio Tinto Group, in the People's Republic of China, who were subsequently accused of bribery and espionage. Two days later, an import executive of the Shougang Group and Laigang Group was also arrested.〔(Govt: Proof against Rio spies sticks )〕 The Rio Tinto employees, Australian Stern Hu and three Chinese colleagues, Wang Yong, Ge Minqiang and Liu Caikui, went on trial in Shanghai on Monday, 22 March 2010. The government dropped the charges relating to the alleged theft of trade secrets before the trial, and the defendants admitted to having received bribes during the trial. Following the trial, Stern Hu was sentenced to 10 years jail.〔AAP, March 29, 2010, (Hu given 'tough sentence', says Smith ), Yahoo!7 News〕 Hu and other convicted executives have also had their employment terminated by Rio Tinto Ltd.〔AAP, March 29, 2010, (Rio Tinto fires Hu, other jailed execs ), Yahoo!7 News〕 It is reported that the motive behind the terminations is in regards to a breach of conduct, with Rio Tinto accepting the evidence provided showing instances of bribery. Rio Tinto also states that the trial will not affect business ties, according to its chief executive.〔AAP, March 29, 2010, (China bond won't be broken: Rio Tinto ) Yahoo!7 News〕 == Background == The arrests came during difficult negotiations over the price of iron ore for the 2009-2010 period. After steep increases in 2008, Chinese steelmakers hoped to see iron prices come down again because of the global recession. 〔('Iron ore pricing system near collapse as talks go on', ''Bloomberg, via Sydney Morning Herald'', 2009-06-30. )〕 The Rio Tinto employees are accused of having industry data crucial to the negotiations too detailed to have been obtained legally. 〔(Qi, Z & Hao, T 'Bribery is widespread' in Rio case, ''China Daily'', 2009-07-15. )〕 On Thursday, July 16 Reuters reported that Rio Tinto had evacuated its iron ore and steel industry research staff from Shanghai the day before, as had "''other foreign groups... until conditions there become more certain.''" 〔(Regan, J 'Rio Tinto moves iron, steel staff out of China', Reuters, 2009-07-16. )〕 The arrests also came shortly after Rio Tinto declined to sell part of the company to the Chinese state-owned company Chinalco. Chinalco currently owns 9.3% of Rio Tinto; the additional investment would have raised Chinalco's ownership stake in Rio Tinto to 18.5%. The proposed deal met strong political opposition in Australia, and Rio Tinto decided instead to raise the money through existing shareholders and by forming a joint venture with BHP Billiton.〔"China detains Rio Tinto executive on spying charges", ''Mining Engineering'', August 2009, p.11.〕 Rio Tinto negotiated on behalf of Vale, BHP Billiton and itself as a consortium with the Chinese side being represented by CISA. Traditionally the role of the Chinese side was filled by Baosteel. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rio Tinto espionage case」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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