Australia's listed mining firm OZ Minerals and the Cambodian government had reportedly denied accusations of bribery back in 2009 to get final contract approvals for the mining project.

In a report of the Cambodian Daily and quoted by Sydney Morning Herald, OZ Minerals has been accused of bribing its partner in the gold mining project, Shin Ha, in 2009.

The issue of bribery transpiring among Australia's top mining companies came up because the Cambodian government also investigates a similar incident linking BHP Billiton.

OZ's case

It was alleged that over $US1 million were used to bribe three women on the Shin Ha board who were reportedly connected with officials of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy (MIME) and other ministries.

The said women were appointed as members of the board of Shin Ha in 2006, immediately before Shin Ha completed a partnership agreement with Oxiana. Owen Hegarty was the head of Oxiana. OZ Minerals was later formed from the merger of Oxiana Limited and Zinifex in 2008.

According to the newspaper report, an OZ Minerals' spokeswoman said that the mining company conducted its own investigation and had not discovered that will link it to the said allegations.

She said: "The company sees to it that all rules and regulations pertaining to the country's laws have been complied with. We therefore vehemently deny all the accusations of inappropriate practices with regards to the business transactions of OZ Minerals."

The Cambodian Daily also reported that Suy Sem, the Minister for Industry, Mines and Energy of Cambodia also denied all allegations that ministry officials had been bribed and that the law have been strictly applied.

All the government officials of Cambodia are required to declare their assets and liabilities and are also prohibited from retaining business interests. The officials have to divest all business interest prior to joining the government service. However, the disclosure does not cover the relatives, it said.

Another controversy

OZ Minerals had gotten over a previous controversy involving a $60-million lawsuit filed by stockholders.

In that lawsuit, stockholders said that they lost hundreds of million of dollars when the mining company did not disclose its true financial standing amidst the global financial crisis.

The mining company was forced to sell all its mining operations in 2009 to the China Minmetals for $US1.39 billion after agreements to repay its debt with the banks failed.

However, the mining company retained its Prominent Hill mining plant.