Four employees of Australian mining giant Rio Tinto were charged Wednesday with bribery and infringing trade secrets, said a court statement.

The No. 1 branch of the Shanghai People's Procuratorate has decided to prosecute Australian citizen Stern Hu, former head of Rio Tinto's Shanghai office, and three local employees, Wang Yong, Ge Minqiang and Liu Caikui.

The Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court has accepted the case.

The statement by the court said prosecutors accused the four of "taking advantage of their position to seek profit for others, and asking for, or illegally accepting, huge amounts of money from Chinese steel enterprises."

It said they lured the Chinese enterprises' heads with promises, or through other illegal means, to obtain the steel companies' commercial secrets on multiple occasions, causing "extremely serious consequence" for the companies.

(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2010)