Rinehart’s Hancock weighs $3.3 billion iron ore mine project
Hancock acquired a 51% interest in the Mt Bevan project from Legacy Iron Ore Ltd. and Hawthorn Resources.
India’s reputation as a mining jurisdiction was further besmirched today after two powerful mining magnates were arrested over allegations of corruption.
The Guardian reports that Indian police have arrested Gali Janardhan Reddy, the owner of Obulapuram Mining Corporation and his brother-in-law Srinivas Reddy, the company’s managing director, over allegations they created an illegal business empire worth billions. The men face charges of conspiracy, forgery and violation of mining laws.
The arrests are the latest in a string of corruption scandals in India that culminated in a two-week hunger strike by 74-year-old Anna Hazare, who was protesting endemic corruption, both petty and large-scale, in the country.
In July the head of the BJP government in Karnataka state, BS Yeddyurappa, was forced to resign after he was accused of being at the centre of a $3.6 billion mining fraud involving the illegal export of iron ore. Karnataka banned export shipments of iron ore in 2009 as a measure against illegal mining and the need to preserve the raw material for local steelmakers.
According to the Guardian, Gali Janardhan Reddy, with his brothers Karunakara and Somasekhar, had long been accused of running an illegal iron ore extraction empire along the border of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh which had devastated the environment:
As ministers, Janardhan and Karunakara Reddy were seen as the real power behind chief minister BS Yeddyurappa, recently forced to resign after a damning report on the state’s illegal mining operations by the ombudsman, Santosh Hegde. He described links between Karnataka politicians and mining as a “mafia type of operation.”
Wikipedia describes Gali Janardhan Reddy — the former minister of tourism — as one of the richest politicians in Karnataka who, along with his brothers, rose from obscurity as an activist with the Hindu nationalist BJP party into a political boss who dominated local government in the Bellary district, which controls the state’s richest iron ore deposits.
3 Comments
Ndele01
At least they arrest you in India. In South Africa 15 of the President’s family have shares in 174 companies. If the media don’t highlight corruption, then no one does anything. Then there is the mere 6% convition rate in the courts…….
Pompanna
Corruption exists every where. Only the degree of of it varies. After all it is struggle for and fall in the field of politics.
Big Poppa T
Refreshing, let’s see what the sentence is to judge the success of the efforts against this corruption. Nice to see India making progress, do it right for yoru people and show the world how you are becoming a great nation.