BHP bribery scandal not thoroughly investigated

Reports have today emerged criminal allegations that BHP Billiton employees bribed officials in Cambodia and China were not thoroughly investigated by the Australian Federal Police, with the matter instead being passed over to corporate regulator ASIC, which also ran no in-depth investigation. … The documents released to Fairfax Media show that in May 2010, the AFP was notified that US investigators had evidence that BHP Billiton was allegedly ”paying bribes to foreign public officials”. A year later, in May 2011, the AFP referred the case to ASIC. … But according to The Age, ASIC also did not conduct thorough investigations into the matter. The SMH has previously reported that ‘protected’ and ‘sensitive’ diplomatic cables reveal [Hun] Sen’s close involvement in 2006 negotiations with BHP executives where he promised ‘a possible tax holiday’ and that he would give ‘BHP one million hectares of land’ weeks before signing an agreement. …

http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/bhp-bribery-scandal-not-thoroughly-investigated