Letters of credit (L/Cs) from the Pandora Papers leak reportedly show how Rio Tinto continued to trade with Chinese steel billionaire Du Shuanghua, even after he confessed to paying bribes to one of three executives at the mining giant who were subsequently jailed for between seven and 14 years, according to Australia's ABC Investigations.

It says the files show that Rio Tinto has traded more than $US200 million with the billionaire's steel companies via a Singaporean intermediary, Bright Ruby Resources (BRR), since 2010 when the scandal emerged.

L/C disclosures

Several L/Cs disclosed in the Pandora Papers leak according to ABC show how Rio Tinto continued to trade via Singapore-based BRR, which was founded in December 2009, a few months after Du established his first offshore trust, Dragon Nobel, in the British Virgin Islands and appointed Credit Suisse Trust as its trustee.

Dragon Nobel is one of several offshore trusts set up by the billionaire to hold his properties, assets and shipping and steel companies. BRR is set up to manage those assets and it is via BRR that trading has taken place with Rio Tinto according to the ABC report.

Documents and records

It says contractual documents and payment records contained in the Pandora Papers reveal one Rio Tinto subsidiary in Singapore struck a deal with BRR as early as 2013 and was shipping US$13.5 million worth of iron ore into Chinese ports in 2016. The ports include Rizhao, Qingdao and Lanshan, where Du's steel companies are based.

These documents also reveal an Australian subsidiary of Rio Tinto based in Perth, Robe River Ore Sales, was the entity that was trading the most with BRR the report concludes.

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