The Shanghai trial of the four Rio Tinto employees charged with taking bribes and stealing commercial secrets ended yesterday with no word on when the verdict would be announced.
Stephen Smith, the Australian foreign minister, said the court would consider its verdict and possible sentencing. "There may well be some time, a matter of days between the end of the hearing today and those further processes," Mr Smith told ABC Radio, the country's state broadcaster.
Stern Hu, an Australian citizen and Rio's head iron ore salesman in China, has been detained since July, together with Chinese nationals Liu Caikui, Ge Minqiang and Wang Yong. The case is widely viewed as testing China's legal process as it applies to foreign corporations.
Mr Wang's lawyer said he expected the verdict to take more than a few days but assumed it would not take more than a month.
In the UK, the Serious Fraud Office said yesterday its intelligence unit was monitoring the Rio case, although no investigation had been launched.
Lawyers who attended yesterday's closed portion of the trial, relating to theft of commercial secrets, said one of the defendants pleaded guilty but it was apparently not Mr Hu.
The commercial secrets charge related to the collection of information about Chinese steelmakers, including their iron ore demand, which some of the defendants said was market research in line with their employment, the lawyers said.
The four men admitted on Monday that they had accepted bribes although the alleged amounts remained in dispute. China's Xinhua news agency said the bribes totalled Rmb92m (£9m).
Meanwhile details emerged of Rio's investigation into the affair.
Within days of the detention of the four, Tom Albanese, chief executive, and Sam Walsh, head of iron ore, ordered an examination of the iron ore division's contracts, money flows, operating systems and staff e-mails, which was carried out by external auditors, lawyers and accountants.
According to a person at Rio, who asked not to be named, no evidence of wrongdoing was found after a thorough investigation that looked at everything "inside and out".
However, Rio's internal examination did not extend to the private dealings of the four accused.
The case has also drawn in Du Shuanghua, one of China's richest men,
The court was told that Mr Du had given Mr Wang $9m but the lawyer acting for the accused said the money was not a bribe but a loan to buy shares in Hong Kong.
Mr Wang's lawyer yesterday said he asked the judges to question Mr Du, chairman of Rizhao Steel, but the prosecutors decided it was unnecessary.
