Last week, Rio Tinto announced that Ms Valentine had ‘stepped down’ from her role amid an ongoing internal investigation into a $10.5m payment made to a ‘consultant’ in 2011 in relation to the company’s Simandou iron ore project in Guinea. However, the mining giant has now announced that it has ‘terminated’ Ms Valentine’s contract along with that of former chief executive of energy and minerals Alan Davies.
Failing to uphold ‘code of conduct’
A statement from the London-based company said: ‘The board concluded that the executives failed to maintain the standards expected of them under our global code of conduct. The board’s decision does not pre-judge the outcome of any external inquiries into this matter.’ It is not yet clear what the specific grounds for termination were for Ms Valentine and Mr Davis. However, given that Ms Valentine had already stepped down and had notified Rio Tinto of her intention to retire from the company next year, the decision to terminate her contract sends a strong message. The move will block Ms Valentine and Mr Davies from accessing any short-term incentive plan awards for this year, and will cancel all unvested incentive plans from previous years.
Bribery investigation
According to reporting by Bloomberg, the internal probe at Rio Tinto related to a $10.5m sum paid in 2011 to Francois de Combret for assisting negotiations the Guinean President Alpha Conde on the Simandou project. Rio Tinto has reported the matter to relevant authorities in the US, UK and Australia, and has promised to cooperate fully with any external investigations. Chief financial officer Chris Lynch has temporarily stepped into Ms Valentine’s role as legal chief until a successor is found.
Sources: Bloomberg; Legal Week; The Lawyer
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