Rio Tinto withholding bonus as regulators investigate former CEO
Rio has alerted authorities in the UK and US about a $10.5m payment to a consultant for assisting in negotiations with Guinea’s President Alpha Condé
Rio Tinto Group will withhold some bonus payments to its former CEO as regulators in three countries investigate payments to a consultant on an iron ore project in Guinea. Sam Walsh, who retired in July, has agreed to defer payment of outstanding short- and long-term incentives for a minimum of two years, the company said on Thursday in its annual report. The payments are contingent on there being no information related to its Simandou project that would justify canceling, deferring or reducing the awards, Rio said: "The board has determined that it would be inappropriate, while investigations are ongoing, to make any determination about Sam Walsh, our former CEO, or about his outstanding remuneration." Rio said in November that it had alerted authorities, including the US Department of Justice and the UK’s Serious Fraud Office, about a $10.5m payment to an external consultant in 2011 for assisting in negotiations with Guinea’s President Alpha Condé on the Simandou project. Rio late...
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