How A Mysterious Hack And Four Arrests Transformed A Mining Giant’s Relationship With China.
For eight years, Stern Hu rose every morning at 6 a.m. in Qingpu Prison near Shanghai. He and the dozen men who shared his cell would blearily pull on their blue-and-whitestriped uniforms and line up in front of their bunks for the day’s first duty: greeting the guards. “Good morning, officer!” they’d shout. “Thank you for taking care of us, officer!”
Everyone in Brigade No. 8, the foreign prisoners unit, knew Hu. The quiet 61-year-old stood a head taller than the rest. Chinese-born, with an Australian passport and a shock of white hair, he’d been a star at Rio Tinto Group, one of the world’s largest mining companies, before being sent to prison in 2010 for stealing trade secrets and taking bribes. The Chinese government said his actions had cost the country’s steel industry as much as $100 billion.
To the members of Eight Brigade, Hu was also the guy who ran the library. After a breakfast of rice gruel with a spoonful of pickled vegetables, he’d take his post at a small desk next to some bookshelves at one end of the common room. He was supposed to keep track of who borrowed the books, but a former fellow convict says he let people do as they pleased. Most of his day was spent translating things for the guards. At 9 p.m., when the automatic lock on his cell door clanged shut, he’d lie on a thin mattress and listen to his bunkmates snore or cry out in their sleep.
Hu also completed self-denunciation classes, writing out long scripts apologising for his actions. His reward for this, combined with his library service and reputation for good behavior, was to have his sentence reduced from 10 years to eight. On July 4, Hu, one of the most senior Western executives to see the inside of a Chinese prison, was set free.
Denne historien er fra 16 August, 2018-utgaven av Bloomberg Businessweek Middle East.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra 16 August, 2018-utgaven av Bloomberg Businessweek Middle East.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Golfing With The Enemy
Did Donald Trump's executives violate the Cuban embargo?
Super-Rich Syrians Wait for War's End
Actor, author, playwright. Gill Pringle tries her hand at unravelling the mystery behind this enigmatic multi-hyphenate
Pam Codispoti
The mastermind behind the industry-shaping Chase Sapphire Reserve Card sets her sights on banking
This Time It's The Economy
President Rouhani’s budget sets offprotests from people angry about unemployment and inflation
Saudi Prince Counts On Support Of Citizens
State-worker salary increases appeal to the people, but policy may throw the budget off track
Stalin's Legacy Is Choking The Ukrainian Economy
The government has resisted pressure to lift a ban on land sales, despite pressure from the IMF and investors
Catastrophe Bonds Survive A Stormy Year
The turbulence of 2017 couldn’t destroy a market for betting against disasters
Riding The West Bank's Credit Boom
Increased consumer lending is creating a bubble in the West Bank
You'd Be Crazy To Buy Pizza With Bitcoin
Speculative fervour makes the cryptocurrency clumsy for commerce
What If The President Loses His Party?
Trump has to figure out a way to work with Republicans in Congress, or the global economy may be at stake