(Reuters) – Swiss businessman Max Goeldi arrived back in Switzerland Monday after nearly two years stranded in Libya, drawing a line under a diplomatic row that had threatened to poison ties between Tripoli and Europe.
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Goeldi, accompanied on the flight by Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey and Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, was greeted by his family at Zurich airport when he landed after a stop in Tunis on the way from Tripoli.
The spat began two years ago when Swiss police briefly arrested Hannibal Gaddafi, a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and it later escalated into a conflict that drew in the European Union, the United States and major energy firms.
Libyan officials deny the Swiss man’s case had anything to do with Hannibal Gaddafi’s arrest, but Goeldi’s supporters say he was an innocent pawn caught up in Libya’s retaliation against Switzerland.
Goeldi, who worked in Libya for engineering firm ABB, was given clearance to return home after Calmy-Rey arrived in the Libyan capital and signed a deal both sides said was aimed at ending their diplomatic dispute.
“We are relieved and happy along with Max Goeldi and his family,” Calmy-Rey said in a statement.
Moratinos, whose country holds the European Union’s presidency, had been in Tripoli to help negotiate the Swiss-Libyan deal — a sign of the importance the EU attaches to its business ties with oil exporter Libya.
Goeldi had been serving a four-month prison sentence for violating immigration rules until he was released last week, clearing the way for talks on his return home. Before he was jailed he had been barred from leaving Libya since July 2008.
The price for Goeldi’s return home appeared to be a Swiss apology for the publication of a leaked police photo of Hannibal Gaddafi taken while he was under arrest. Libya says the leak was an invasion of his privacy and damaged his reputation.
The Swiss foreign minister said her country acknowledged the publication was unlawful, apologized, and promised to pay Hannibal Gaddafi compensation if a criminal investigation failed to find who was responsible for the leak.
Swiss French-language television said it had unconfirmed reports that the Geneva authorities were paying 1.5 million euros ($1.8 million) in compensation to Hannibal Gaddafi.
FORGIVENESS
The apology was in a “plan of action” signed by Calmy-Rey and her Libyan counterpart Moussa Koussa which they said would act as a blueprint for ending the row.
The Swiss foreign minister told reporters after a signing ceremony that Goeldi’s homecoming “is the start of the normalization of relations between the two countries.”
Koussa said Libya too wanted to move on. “I would like the Libyan people to forgive the Swiss people who committed this mistake against Hannibal Gaddafi,” he said.
Goeldi’s problems began days after Hannibal Gaddafi was arrested at a luxury lakeside hotel in Geneva on charges — which were later dropped — of abusing two domestic employees.
Libya reacted angrily, stopping oil exports to Switzerland and withdrawing assets from Swiss banks. Muammar Gaddafi declared a “jihad” on Switzerland, although his officials said he had meant a trade embargo, not a holy war.
Libya was under international sanctions until 2004 when its leader renounced banned weapons programs.
During the row with Switzerland, it briefly barred entry to citizens of most European countries in retaliation for a Swiss travel ban on some senior Libyans.
Tripoli also warned U.S. energy companies operating in Libya their interests could be hurt after a U.S. official made disparaging remarks about Muammar Gaddafi’s stance on Switzerland. The U.S. official later apologized.
(Additional reporting by Ali Shuaib and Salah Sarrar in Tripoli, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Arnd Wiegmann in Zurich; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Ralph Gowling)
Trial of four Rio Tinto employees enters second day
Four Rio Tinto executives, including Australian Stern Hu, face charges of stealing commercial secrets in a Shanghai court on Tuesday after admitting to bribes in iron ore negotiations with China.
Hu and three Chinese employees of giant miner Rio — Liu Caikui, Ge Minqiang and Wang Yong — face jail terms of up to 20 years on the bribery charges alone, according to a lawyer for one of the accused.
The trial is taking place at a time when foreign business sentiment is souring against China. Rio has said the four did nothing wrong.
Rio chief executive Tom Albanese told an audience in Beijing he did not want to jeopardise business ties with China, the world’s biggest consumer of iron ore.
“This issue is obviously of great concern to us,” Albanese told a forum of officials and executives, referring to the case.
Canberra has protested China’s exclusion of Australian diplomats from watching the court proceedings that deal with commercial secrets, saying they have the right to be present for the whole trial, scheduled to last until Wednesday.
Tao Wuping, a lawyer for the accused Liu, said the commercial secrets accusations would probably be heard on Tuesday.
“This morning we’ll be arguing all aspects of the charges,” said Zhai Jian, the lawyer for Ge. “Everyone will speak. There are eight lawyers, so I can’t predict when this session will be finished.”
The case has thrown a spotlight on China’s often murky marketplace, where legal boundaries can be vague and courts closely tied to the state, creating pitfalls for businesses seeking profits in the world’s third-biggest economy.
At the same time as the Rio trial, Google Inc said it was closing its China-based search service and redirecting users to an uncensored portal in Hong Kong, drawing harsh comments from Beijing.
SCANT DETAILS
The four employees from Rio’s iron ore team were detained last July at the height of fraught price negotiations over ore, a lucrative resource for Chinese steel makers, the world’s biggest consumers of the stuff.
Shanghai is likely to want the case to end quickly, before its much ballyhooed 2010 World Expo opens in May.
Tom Connor, the Australian Consul General in Shanghai who attended the hearing, told reporters on Monday Hu was accused of taking bribes worth 1 million yuan ($146,500) and $790,000.
Lawyers for the three Chinese defendants said they also acknowledged taking bribes, but maintained the amount of the kickbacks alleged by prosecutors was inflated.
The lawyers did not explain what the bribes were for.
China has not provided details about who may have offered the bribes. Two executives from Chinese mills are being held in custody, but the government has not said what their role in the case might have been.
On Tuesday, Australian diplomats entered the court without making comments to foreign reporters, who are not allowed into the trial at all.
(Additional reporting by Royston Chan)