London — BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest mining company, rejected claims of tax evasion in Australia by pointing to $58bn in taxes and royalties paid in the country over the past decade. "We’re astonished to hear some politicians claiming that we haven’t been paying our fair share," Jac Nasser, chairman of the Melbourne-based company, told an audience of investors, executives and journalists in London on Monday night. "If we were avoiding tax, we’re clearly no good at it," Nasser said. Last week, former Australian treasurer Wayne Swan, who was locked in a dispute with BHP Billiton and rival Rio Tinto over a plan to raise taxes earlier this decade, accused the company of funnelling sales through its Singapore marketing hub to help lower its tax bill. The practice, known as transfer pricing, is not illegal, although it increasingly attracts scrutiny of governments seeking to crack down on the strategy. "The evidence against BHP Billiton is damning," Swan told Australia’s parliament ...
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