Rio Tinto accused of $700m tax dodge on Mongolian mine

Rio Tinto Group has been accused by a Dutch non-profit group of avoiding about $700-million in taxes related to its Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in Mongolia. The company denied the allegations. Rio and its Canadian subsidiary Turquoise Hill Resources used so-called mailbox companies in Luxembourg and the Netherlands to fund the development of the mine in Mongolia, the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations said in a report Wednesday. The company avoided $470-million in Canadian taxes through the vehicles and $230-million in Mongolian taxes, the group known as SOMO said.