The bribery and trade secrets trial of the Rio Tinto executives came to an end Wednesday without an immediate verdict. A court spokeswoman declined to say when a verdict might be announced.
The bribery and trade secret trial of the Rio Tinto executives in Shanghai will now continue behind closed doors. Australian diplomats will also be excluded from the court room. Canberra has asked China to reconsider this decision.
Stern Hu, a senior executive with Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto, has pleaded guilty to taking bribes at the beginning of a trial in Shanghai, China. Three other company executives are being tried for bribe-taking and trade secrets charges.
The trial of four employees from the Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto who Chinese authorities have charged with bribery and industrial espionage began in Shanghai on Monday, court sources said.
Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto has signed a huge deal with China's state-owned Chinalco to exploit a vast iron ore mine in Guinea, while four of its employees await trial on bribery and industrial espionage charges in Shanghai.
China has charged four employees of Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto with bribery and stealing business secrets in an industrial espionage case that had sparked a diplomatic row and raised concerns about the risks of doing business in China.
Chinese officials have arrested four employees of Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto on suspicions that they used bribery to obtain commercial secrets, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
Multinational mining company Rio Tinto stands accused of commercial espionage by China's state secrets watchdog, who reported that data on the company's computers showed it had been spying for over six years.
Frustrated with the lack of progress on the Rio Tinto affair, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has stepped up his rhetoric against China, warning that it had "significant economic interests at stake in its relationship with Australia".
After the arrest of four Rio Tinto executives on spying charges, a Chinese steel-industry investigation has turned to five major Chinese groups whose executives are accused of accepting bribes in return for revealing confidential information.
