The Rio Tinto plc (LON: RIO) share price edged 0.75% higher today after the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) dropped its investigation into the company about suspected corruption in the Republic of Guinea. The SFO updated its website on Thursday, saying it was “not in the public interest to proceed with a prosecution in the UK”.
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The SFO also dropped another high-profile investigation into Kazakh miner ENRC, which has been ongoing since 2013. The investigation was about alleged bribery to secure mining contracts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between 2009 and 2012.
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Investors reacted positively to the SFO’s decision regarding Rio Tinto. However, Rio Tinto is not in the clear yet, given that it is dual-listed in the UK and Australia. The SFO confirmed, “The Australian Federal Police maintains a live investigation into this matter, and we continue to support their ongoing case.”
Hence, the company still has a pending investigation into its dealings in the Republic of Guinea, which the Australian Federal Police are conducting. A Rio Tinto spokesperson acknowledged the announcement, saying: “We are committed to conducting business to the highest standards of integrity.”
The SFO’s decision comes just days before a new director, Nick Ephgrave, the former assistant commissioner at London's police force, is due to replace the current SFO director, Lisa Osofsky, in September.
Some analysts have questioned whether the bruising court battles with the two companies had anything to do with the decision to drop the two investigations. The ENRC investigation led to a bruising and lengthy court battle between the firm and SFO employees.
The SFO has recently suffered several bruising defeats, including the collapse of its case against three former executives at security company G4S and three men's bribery convictions after its Unaoil bribery probe was overturned.
However, the agency has had some successes, including its investigation into bribery allegations at Glencore that resulted in the company paying £276.4 million ($349.01 million) for bribery conducted by its African operations.
Rio Tinto share price.
The Rio Tinto share price was trading up 0.75% at 4785.5p, from Thrusday’s closing price of 4747.8p.
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