The Serious Fraud Office has quietly dropped long-running corruption investigations into mining giants Rio Tinto and Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation.

The SFO opened its RioTinto investigation in 2017, probing suspected corruption in the conduct of business in the Republic of Guinea by the Australo-British Rio Tinto Group, its employees and others associated with it.

Updating its case pages today, the agency said that this month ‘following our latest review of the [Rio Tinto] investigation, we concluded that it is not in the public interest to proceed with a prosecution in the UK and closed our case. As a responsible prosecutor we must ensure all our cases meet the stringent evidence and public interest tests set by the Code for Crown Prosecutors.’

ENRC

It is a decade since the SFO launched an investigation into London-headquartered mining multinational ENRC, focusing on the suspected payment of bribes to secure access to mining contracts in the Democratic Republic of Congo between 2009 and 2012. ENRC, which denies wrongdoing, brought a high profile High Court case against the SFO for misfeasance in public office and inducing breach of contract. 

‘We conducted a comprehensive investigation spanning multiple jurisdictions to examine the alleged conduct and exhausted all reasonable lines of enquiry,’ the agency said today. ‘We review all our cases on an ongoing basis to help us deliver justice for victims and value to the public.

‘As a responsible prosecutor, we must ensure all our cases meet the stringent evidence and public interest tests set by the Code for Crown Prosecutors. In August 2023, following our latest review of the investigation, we concluded that we have insufficient admissible evidence to prosecute, and closed the case.’

Today’s decisions constitute another setback for the much-criticised SFO, though they will seen as convenient for incoming director Nick Ephgrave, a senior police officer. He takes over from current SFO director Lisa Osofsky next month with a brief to improve the agency’s performance.

In April this year, the committee of the City of London Law Society (CLLS) urged for ‘urgent focused reform’ at the SFO and proposed a number of changes including a budget increase. The following month, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate found the organisation on the ‘right track’ to tackle some of its problems and has made improvements in handling and progressing cases.