China has officially charged four employees of Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto, who were arrested last year amid tense price negotiations with Chinese steel companies, with bribery and obtaining commercial secrets.

The four, including Australian citizen Stern Hu, were detained in July and officially arrested in August on suspicion that they had violated Chinese national security. According to a statement released by the Number 1 branch of the Shanghai People’s Procuratorate, the four are officially indicted on charges of “taking advantage of their position to seek profit for others, and asking for, or illegally accepting, huge amounts of money from Chinese steel enterprises.” The executives allegedly requested and accepted bribes from Chinese steel companies.

They are also accused of attempting to steal commercial secrets from Chinese steel companies by making “promises”, or through illegal means, according to the report which was published by the state-run news agency Xinhua.

The report added that the police had concluded its investigation and sent the case to prosecutors on January 11.

Last year’s arrests came as Rio Tinto was engaged in tense price negotiations with Chinese steel companies over the sale of iron ore. It also came in the heels of Rio Tinto’s rejection of a US$19.5 billion deal to buy an 18 per cent stake in the company by the Aluminium Corp of China. Because of the timing, there has been speculation that the case was politically motivated.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that the Australian government has confirmed the indictments, but added that a trial date has not be set.

The Journal also reported that the case came as many foreign companies have re-evaluated their China strategies – especially whether the benefits of doing business in the world’s fastest growing emerging market outweigh the risks. It cited a threat from internet search giant Google to leave the China market, over an alleged attempt to break into its email system that was traced back to China.

The report also said that at least two foreign mining companies are now asking for waivers prior to commencing commercial negotiations, to preclude their executives from being charged with criminal wrongdoing in the performance of their duties.

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German car maker Daimler AG has agreed to pay US$200 million to resolve US allegations that it paid bribes to win overseas business contracts, according to a report by Bloomberg. As part of the deal, two of Daimler AG’s subsidiaries will also plead guilty to having paid bribes to foreign government officials.

Citing unnamed sources familiar with the deal, the report said that Daimler has agreed to the payment to settle a US Department of Justice (DoJ) probe on whether it had violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), as well as a civil probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The deal has been submitted by government lawyers to a US district court judge for approval. A spokesperson for Daimler said: “We are in discussions with the DoJ and SEC regarding consensually resolving the agencies’ investigations. There can be no assurances about whether and when settlement with the DoJ and SEC will become final and effective.”

Both US agencies declined to comment.

According to the report, the probes centred on a whistle-blower claim by an auditor at the car-marker’s former DaimlerCrysler subsidiary. The auditor, David Bazzetta, claimed in 2004 that he was fired after he learnt that the car-maker had kept secret bank accounts to bribe foreign government officials, and complained to his superiors. Mr Bazzetta dropped his complaint in 2005 after his claim was settled, the report said.

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