Four Rio Tinto employees charged with stealing trade secrets in China

Four employees of the Rio Tinto Group, the world’s third- largest mining company, were charged in Beijing  with accepting bribes and stealing trade secrets. China came short of charging the employees with espionage, but included charges of "damaging the interests of China’s state-owned steel makers". This case is being carefully watched by the international community, specifically other Western companies operating in China. The government did not offer any specifics to the charges against the four employees, only saying that they had “requested and received” bribes from Chinese-owned steel producers. The government claims that the Rio Tinto employee's obtained valuable trade secrets by “luring with valuable goods and other illegal methods.”

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9752629
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/world/asia/11riotinto.html