By former Phnom Penh Post journalist Georgia Wilkins
crikey.com.au
Today’s broadsheets reported that mining giant BHP Billiton could be guilty of paying $US2.5 million in bribes to the Cambodian government to secure a bauxite mining concession in the country’s north-west.
Further investigations have revealed that BHP discretely shelved its mining plans at the same time as a probe into the deal by the US Securities and Exchange Commission began. It seems Japan’s Mitsubishi were also part of the deal.
Is this a repeat of the Rio Tinto saga, or are we seeing a pattern emerge?
It seems that even the world’s largest mining company and one of the world’s largest diversified trading and investment companies believe that they can get away with corrupt behaviour; at least in vulnerable corners of the world in which few in London or New York pay attention too.
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