CHINESE prosecutors last night stepped up their case against Stern Hu and three Rio Tinto colleagues by formally indicting them for “illegally accepting huge amounts of money” and obtaining commercial secrets at the expense of Chinese steel mills.
Last night’s official Xinhua news agency report, quoting the Shanghai prosecutor, adopts the toughest official language since the early weeks after the four were detained on July 5.
The timing and form of the announcement surprised some legal representatives of the accused as well as political observers.
None of the lawyers, Rio Tinto or the Australian government appear to have been told of the decision before they were informed of it by the The Age or read it on Chinese official media.
The case is likely to proceed within weeks to a court trial that is closed to the public.
The Xinhua statement last night may place Rio Tinto in an uncomfortable spotlight by accusing Mr Hu and his colleagues of “exploiting their positions to seek gain for others” – although the report did not detail who “others” refers to.
The language may imply the employees sought benefits for the company as well as themselves.
The Xinhua report cited the prosecutor as saying: ”The accused four … exploited their positions to seek gain for others, and numerous times either sought or illegally accepted huge amounts of money from a number of Chinese steel firms; and many times they used … improper means to obtain commercial secrets from Chinese steel firms, causing serious consequences for the firms.”
Xinhua also said: ”It is understood that the Shanghai Municipal First Intermediate People’s Court has accepted this case according to the law.”
The decision to indict Mr Hu, an Australian, and Chinese citizens Ge Minqiang, Wang Yong and Liu Caikui quashes hopes that the case might be resolved in the employees’ favour in the context of improving China-Australia relations and Rio Tinto’s appointment of a new and experienced China president.
Zhang Peihong, lawyer for iron ore salesman Wang Yong, said he had no idea the announcement was coming and was ”very surprised” to see it disseminated via the news media.
”I was very surprised, because the lawyers were told to visit their clients this week and some had met with the suspects and the news suddenly came out at 6.30pm on Xinhua.”
Mr Zhang said he had also expected prosecutors to at least use another two weeks to obtain evidence and possibly gain an extension, as permitted by law.
”I expect the trial to start soon after the spring festival,” he said, referring to the week long holiday that begins this Sunday.
Observers say the decision is likely to have been made at the highest level of Chinese politics.
Some had expected President Hu Jintao’s visit last month to Shanghai – the territory of his political rivals and his first visit in two years – would lead to the case being resolved in Mr Hu’s favour.
“The decision on how to put an end to this incident was made at the very last minute with intensified internal debate,” said one close political observer last night.