On Monday, Australian officers confirmed that a bribery case which had managed to raise many concerns among international investors in China, has now been turned over to prosecutors, and they will now decide whether or not it should be taken to trial.

The case of bribery involves 4 employees of Rio Tinto, which is the one of the largest top ranked mining firms in the world, and one of them, Stern Hu, is a citizen of Australia.

Sydney - Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto Ltd posted a first-half net profit of 2.9 billion Australian dollars Thursday.

The figure was 65 per cent down on the equivalent period last year, reflecting the cost of servicing its massive debts and the collapse in commodity prices.

Chief executive Tom Albanese said 16,000 jobs had been cut in the first half of 2009.

The Australian Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, who has flown to Thailand on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio before leaving that if the Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi is also present at the meeting, he would "speak to him about Stern Hu."

Stern Hu, who is an Australian mining executive of the Shanghai-based Rio Tinto Ltd., has been accused by China of stealing state secrets, and has been detained. However, he has not been charged thus far.

Rio Tinto Group, a world leader in finding, mining and processing the earth's mineral resources, has entered into a legal services outsourcing agreement with CPA Global, the $1 billion provider of intellectual property (IP) management services and outsourced legal support services.