Web exclusive published on Mar 22
Original article: [Chinese]



As the case of four Rio Tinto employees accused of illegally obtaining business secrets and of taking bribes got under way in Shanghai earlier this morning, one of the defendant's lawyers indicated that the four accused were likely to plead guilty to the charges.

The Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court started hearing the case of the four employees of the global mining giant, including Stern Hu, former head of the miner's Shanghai office, earlier this morning.

"I think the trial will probably be over very quickly, as the involved parties will be quick to plead guilty," Tao Wuping, a lawyer representing Liu Caikui, one of four accused, told assembled media as he entered the court.

Of the many media outlets that sent reporters to the courthouse, only a few, including Xinhua News Agency, China National Radio, People's Daily, Legal Daily and the local Xinmin Evening News were permitted to enter the courtroom and hear the trial.

No reporters from foreign media outlets were given permission to listen to this morning's hearing.

An individual from the court's propaganda department told the EO that the media outlets given given access to listen to the trial had been randomly selected.

Before entering the courtroom, Australian Consul-General Tom Connor promised the assembled media that he would take questions from journalists who had not been permitted to enter the courtroom, after the day's hearing had concluded.

The EO learned that the trial will be divided into two parts, the first section will focus on the charges of taking bribes and will be open to the public, the second part of the trial will focus on charges of illegally obtaining business secrets, this part of the trial will not be open to the public nor to Australian observers.

The Sydney Morning Herald quoted the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs as confirming  that "at the request of one of the commercial parties on the Chinese side and in accordance with Chinese law and procedure, the court has decided that the sessions dealing with the infringement of commercial secrets should be closed".

Despite the fact that the first part of the trial is supposed to be open to the public, The Economic Observer has learned that ordinary people are also unable to enter the courtroom unless they have obtained permission.

On the eve of the hearing, one of the defense lawyers revealed to The Economic Observer that due to the case attracting so much attention, all those involved have been warned to be discreet in their words and deeds, adding that "All should be well-behaved."

Local prosecutors have accused the four Rio Tinto employees 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 and illegally obtaining the steel companies' commercial secrets on multiple occasions, causing "extremely serious consequence" for these companies.

The four employees are Australian citizen Stern Hu (Hu Shitai), who before being detained by Shanghai's security bureau worked as an executive at Rio Tinto's Shanghai Office, and three local employees Liu Caikui, Ge Minqiang and Wang Yong. They were detained on suspicion of stealing state secrets in July last year and the police concluded their investigation and sent it to prosecutors on January 11 this year.

Links and Sources
Economic Observer:【更新版】力拓案辯護律師：當事人會很快認罪 (Chinese)
Economic Observer: China Concludes Investigation Stage of Rio Tinto Bribery Case
Sydney Morning Herald: Canberra 'gave up too easily' on trial
Reuters: Image