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Copper prices zoom as China begins distancing act on rogue deal
London: Copper prices hit a record high again yesterday after a Chinese state-owned newspaper declared that the government had decided it was not responsible for a rogue copper trade executed by one of its officials at the London Metal Exchange. This apparent distancing act by Beijing may hit members of the London Metal Exchange (LME) particularly hard.

As per market speculation the South African-owned Standard Bank and Sempra Metals, both prominent members of the LME, are among those exposed.

According to a report in the China Daily, Liu Qibing, a senior figure at the State Reserve Bureau (SRB), had indeed built a "massive short position" on the LME. But it said an official investigation had concluded the government was not responsible because he was acting on his own. "An initial investigation found that Liu alone should be blamed for the loss," the newspaper quoted an unnamed official at the SRB as saying. "As far as I know, the loss was a result of his personal actions, instead of the government."

China Daily said Mr Liu, whom it identified as the former import division chief of the SRB's National Control Centre, sold between 100,000 and 200,000 tonnes of copper, to be delivered to LME warehouses by 21 December. With three-month copper futures in London rising to $4,185 yesterday, the position built up by him could translate into losses of $200mn, market sources have indicated.

Barclays, which has also featured in market rumours, clarified its commodity department was unaware of any exposure to the deal. Both Sempra and Standard Bank have refused to comment.

By way of damage control operations, China has been selling copper to try to cool the price. It auctioned 20,000 tonnes on Wednesday and has sent signals that it is prepared to sell up to 500,000 tonnes.
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Crude oil prices dip
New York: Crude oil prices dropped Thursday on rising inventories. Light, sweet crude for December was down by 9 cents to US$57.79 a barrel by late morning in Europe on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices rose 90 cents to close at US$57.88 Wednesday, a day after hitting its lowest closing price in four months. However, crude oil is more than 20 percent higher than it was a year ago.

In London, December Brent crude fell 11 cents to US$55.89 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Oil prices have been depressed by warm weathers in the northern United States, the world's biggest heating oil market.
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Media tycoon Conrad Black indicted on eight fraud charges
Chicago: The former owner of the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Conrad Black, was last night charged with 11 counts of fraud in the US, linked to a $2.1billion (£1.2 billion) sale of hundreds of Canadian newspapers.

According to the indictment, Black, 61, Hollinger International's ousted chairman, is accused of cheating the company's US and Canadian shareholders as well as Canadian tax authorities. Hollinger International was already suing Lord Black.

In the criminal indictment, Black and others are accused of fraudulently diverting more than US$32mn from the company through a complex series of transactions. The indictment also outlines fresh allegations, including what federal prosecutors described as the fraudulent diversion of an additional US$51.8mn in 2000 from Hollinger International's sale of assets to CanWestGlobal Communications Corp.

Prosecutors said that Black, with others, had arranged to funnel payments to themselves that were disguised as "non-competition" fees. Prosecutors said they would seek the forfeiture of at least US$80mn from Black and the others. Arrest warrants were issued for Black and two of the former executives but officials said they would be allowed to make a voluntary court appearance in federal court in Chicago.

Hollinger International's new management, which sold off flagship newspaper titles such as the Daily Telegraph and the Jerusalem Post, accused Black and Radler of operating a "corporate kleptocracy" which had drained hundreds of millions of dollars from the company.

The son of a rich investor and brewery executive, Conrad Black, from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, expanded a modest Canadian publishing firm into one that controlled hundreds of daily papers in the United States, Australia, Britain, and Israel, and published more than 60 per cent of Canadian newspaper titles.
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