Australian mining giant BHP Billiton is trying to dodge from the backlash the befell world's largest investment bank Goldman Sachs after it was revealed that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating the firm over alleged violations of anti-corruption laws.

Goldman Sachs is currently being pictured as Wall Street's most hated villain after the SEC filed charges against the bank and one of its employee over alleged securities fraud which contributed to the sub-prime mortgages crisis in the U.S. in 2007 which eventually snowballed into a global financial meltdown.

Unfortunately for Billiton, while it successfully steered clear from the Rio Tinto fiasco last year after three of its executives were charged and eventually found guilty of taking bribes and security commercial secrets in China, it is now unsure how the new SEC accusation will affect its global image.

A statement by BHP said it was cooperating with the U.S. regulator and even launched its own independent probe into the reported corrupt practices. The accusation against BHP involved the ceasing of several mineral exploration projects, some as last year.

The mining firm admitted that its own inquiry produced evidence of possible violations of anti-corruption laws, and added they are currently involved with "interactions with government officials".

But the company was silent on the nature and the area where the possible breaches was found. However, the matters being investigated by the U.S. SEC were outside America and China.

According to BHP it was still not clear when the inquiry will be concluded, not can it predict the outcome of the inquiry. Although insiders privy with the probe said it involves small exploration projects that the company terminated citing commercial reasons.