BHP Billiton assists in corruption investigation
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Australian mining company BHP Billiton said on Wednesday it has been cooperating with the U.S. authorities in an investigation into possible corruption involving government officials.
BHP Billiton has responded to "requests for information" from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a part of an investigation relating primarily to certain terminated minerals exploration projects, Australian Associated press reports Wednesday.
"... the company has disclosed to relevant authorities evidence that it has uncovered regarding possible violations of applicable anti-corruption laws involving interactions with government officials," BHP Billiton spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
"Accordingly, the company is cooperating with the relevant authorities including conducting an internal investigation, which is continuing. It is not possible at this time to predict the scope or duration of the investigation or its likely outcome," the company said.
A company spokeswoman would not identify any location or project relating to the possible offenses. "We can confirm that the SEC's requests for information primarily relate to certain terminated minerals exploration projects and not any activity in China, BHP Billiton's marketing activities or the sale of any of the company's products," the BHP spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman said it related to past exploration projects, the last of which wound be up about a year ago. "They are in the past, and are small investigation projects," the spokeswoman said.
News of the investigation came as BHP Billiton released its third quarter production , exploration and development reports on Wednesday, in which the company unveiled record year-to-date production records for iron ore and petroleum.
BHP Billiton is the world's largest mining company. It is also the largest company in Australia by market capitalization.
