Rio Tinto Ltd
(ASX:RIO) executive Stern Hu is likely to be fired immediately if found guilty of bribery charges, despite still being paid by the miner while awaiting trial in China for the past eight months.
The Australian newspaper reports that a lawyer for the four Rio executives standing trial in Shanghai says Rio was not aware of its employees in China accepting bribes.
The trial, which is scheduled to finish today, was closed to Australian officials at lunchtime yesterday after the hearing.
It moved to its second closed phase, where charges of stealing business secrets were being heard.
On Monday, Hu and two fellow Rio executives admitted receiving bribes from Chinese steel mills.
A fourth executive, Wang Yong, has pleaded his innocence to the charge of accepting $11.2 million in bribes, saying the money was simply a loan.
It has now been revealed that Yong was part of a separate sales team and reported to a different manager to Hu and the other two executives.
Rio Tinto posted a profit of $5.432 billion for 2009.
