‘Political pressure’ over mine deal
A corruption inquiry has heard that former NSW mining minister Ian Macdonald applied political pressure to an industry lobby group to support a plan to give former union boss John Maitland and his associates a $100 million coal exploration licence, reports the Australian Financial Review.
Sue Ern-Tan, a former senior policy adviser in Macdonald’s office, told the Independent Commission Against Corruption yesterday that Macdonald supported Maitland’s proposal for an underground “training mine” in the Hunter Valley.
The ICAC has heard the proposal was first raised in 2007 before Macdonald granted a coal exploration licence to Doyles Creek Mining, a company chaired by Maitland, at a lavish dinner in December 2008.
Maitland, a former national secretary of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, belonged to the same Labor Left faction as Macdonald and was addressed by the minister as “mate”, Tan said.
D-day for Hanlong in Sundance takeover
Sundance Resources is expected to update the market today if China-backed Hanlong misses another deadline in its troubled $1.3 billion takeover of the junior, triggering a clause that allows the deal to be terminated, according to The Australian.
Hanlong has been struggling to finalise the deal, which was launched two years ago, with the latest setback the detention of Hanlong chairman Liu Han by Beijing police.
Hun Sen link in BHP mining deal
A BHP Billiton mining deal being investigated for alleged corruption was personally overseen by Cambodian strongman Hun Sen, diplomatic cables reveal, according to the Australian Financial Review.
The mining giant’s aborted attempt to establish a bauxite mine in Cambodia and its hospitality program for Chinese officials at the 2008 Beijing Olympics are at the centre of a foreign bribery probe involving the Australian Federal Police and the US Justice Department.
Diplomatic cables, several marked ‘‘sensitive’’ and ‘‘protected’’, show for the first time the Cambodian Prime Minister’s close involvement in 2006 negotiations with BHP executives.
