[Aliantha]

OK, so he paid or offered bribes to get his project moving. Let's assume this is a fact.

Do you know that it's a fact that pretty much any major project to do with mining in almost every country other than western democratic countries includes in the budget, money for bribes to officials just to get things done.

Here's an example.

Last time Dazza was in PNG, he had to pay the port authority in port moresby a certain amount of money or they wouldn't allow their boat to leave the port. This was by customs officials. People you would think would be inclined to follow the law, but no, that's not the case.

Corruption and bribery are simply a normal part of the business proceedure in China. I'm sure it's probably true what the Chinese govt are accusing this man of, but he's obviously pissed them off somehow - and most likely in a way they don't want known publicly - so they're charging him for a crime that he's committed and has probably committed many times during the normal course of business as punishment for whatever else he's done. maybe he paid off the wrong person, or didn't pay enough, or threatened to go public with something. There is such a huge amount of money at stake with trade relations between Australia and China, and Rio Tinto is one of the leading players.