China has indicted four employees of mining giant Rio Tinto on charges of bribery and stealing business secrets, opening the way to a trial in a case that has tested ties with Australia.
The four who are set to stand trial in Shanghai include Australian citizen Stern Hu, state news agency Xinhua said.
If found guilty, the Rio employees could face up to seven years in jail on the commercial secrets charge, and up to 20 years on the bribery charge, said Zhang Peihong, a lawyer for one of the accused Chinese nationals.
The indictments will open another chapter in the case that has unnerved mining companies and foreign investors in China, worried about navigating risks of doing business in the world's third biggest economy, where state power is never far from the negotiating table.
Last month, the world's top search engine Google became embroiled in a dispute with China, criticising Beijing for censorship and saying it had been the victim of a serious hacking attack from within the country. It threatened to quit China.
In the Rio case, the Shanghai procuratorate, or prosecutor, said the four did heavy damage to Chinese steelmakers and were seeking to benefit "others", who it did not name.
"The accused four, including Stern Hu, exploited their positions to seek gain for others, and numerous times either sought or illegally accepted massive bribes from a number of Chinese steel firms," the Xinhua report said, citing the prosecutors' indictment.
"Many times they used personal inducements and other improper means to obtain commercial secrets from Chinese steel firms, causing serious consequences for the steel firms concerned.
"It is understood that the Shanghai Municipal First Intermediate People's Court has accepted this case according to the law," Xinhua said.
Hu, Rio Tinto's lead iron ore negotiator in China, and three other staff from China were arrested last July and remain in detention. The three accused Chinese nationals are Liu Caikui, Ge Minqiang and Wang Yong.
Chinese courts are controlled by the ruling Communist Party and rarely find in favour of defendants.
Neither the Australian government nor Rio had any immediate comment on the announcement. The Australian embassy in Beijing referred questions back to Canberra.
Initially, the men were accused of the more serious charge of state espionage, and Australia said China's handling of the case was being closely watched.
In past statements, Rio has said its four employees did no wrong.
China is Australia's biggest trade partner at $53 billion in 2008. Australia exported $15 billion worth of iron ore to China in 2008, or 41 percent of China's iron ore imports.
The big iron ore miners are asking Chinese mills for a 40 per cent increase in prices this year after a fraught 2009 as demand surges beyond last year's record imports of 628 million tonnes, according to press reports.
The China Iron and Steel Association however said at the end of last year that foreign miners were expected to seek a 20 per cent to 30 per cent increase in benchmark prices for 2010, and made it clear that such an increase was unacceptable.
Last year Rio Tinto refused Chinese demands for lower iron ore prices than those agreed by Japanese mills.
Lawyer Zhang said the trial would most likely be after the Lunar New Year holiday, which starts on Sunday, though he did not know exactly when.
Reuters