brockman's corrupt luk charged by hk icac

http://www.theage.com.au/business/mining-and-resources/anticorruption-body-charges-brockman-ceo-20130913-2tp6b.html

The ghosts of a long-running corruption scandal have returned to haunt Pilbara junior Brockman Mining, with its chief executive having charges laid against him in Hong Kong over the past 24 hours.

Luk Kin Peter Joseph has confirmed that charges have been laid against him by Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption, which has been investigating him since October 2011.

While the exact nature of the charges were unclear, Brockman said Mr Luk planned to defend the charges vigorously.

"Mr Luk has informed the company that charges in relation to certain alleged offences under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance and the Crime Ordinance have been laid against him today by ICAC and he was currently on bail pending for the relevant hearings. Mr Luk refutes the charges and intends to defend the allegations made against him," the company said in a statement.

Advertisement Mr Luk has continued serving as chief executive over the past two years despite the corruption cloud continuing to hang over the company, and denting its reputation as it began its push into the Australian mining scene.

Brockman indicated there would be no change to that defiance, despite the matter progressing toward charges.

"The company is of the view that the normal daily business and operations of the group will not be affected and Mr Luk will continue to undertake and discharge his duties as the chief executive and an executive director of the company," Brockman said in a statement.

"The board will continue to monitor the development of the prosecution and assess its impact to the operation of the group."

The charges come at an awkward time for Brockman, which is entering the pointy-end of a rail access dispute with Fortescue in Western Australia.

Brockman has a massive, high quality iron ore deposit in the Pilbara, but has no way of transporting the product to Port Hedland for export, and thus has launched a hostile bid for access under Western Australia's third party access laws.

That bid appears bound for at least one, and possibly two arbitration sessions, as described in this story.

Fortescue has publicly questioned whether Brockman has the leadership capacity, and financial firepower to develop its iron ore project, as part of its defence against allowing Brockman to proceed through the third party access process.

The Hong Kong based company was previously known as Wah Nam, and carried that name around the time it pushed into the Australian mining sector in 2010 and 2011.

But the Wah Nam brand was never far from controversy, not least because of Mr Luk's troubles, but also for the controversial way it acquired its Pilbara iron ore project.

Prior to entering the mining sector, Wah Nam had previously relied on a limousine and airport shuttle bus business in Hong Kong for its income.

That collection of issues convinced the company to change its name to Brockman Mining in August of 2012, as part of efforts to improve its image in Australia.

The Brockman name is a nod to the ASX junior Brockman Resources, which Wah Nam acquired in 2011.

Brockman said the charges relate to an issue that occurred before Mr Luk joined the company, and nor does the matter relate to Brockman in any way.