Four Rio Tinto employees facing bribery and commercial espionage charges in China pleaded guilty, Mining Weekly reported.

The four – Australian Stern Hu and Chinese Liu Caikui, Ge Minqiang and Wang Yong – were arrested in July 2009. According to the report, while they pled guilty to taking bribes, they contested the amounts stated by the prosecution.

"Stern Hu definitely pleaded guilty (to the bribery charges)", Tao Wuping, the lawyer for co-accused Liu, told the website after the hearing.

Australian Consul General in Shanghai Tom Connor, who attended the hearing, told reporters that Hu was accused of taking bribes worth 1 million yuan ($146,500) and $790,000: "Mr. Hu made some admissions concerning some of those bribery amounts, so he did acknowledge the truth of some of those bribery amounts," he said.

The lawyers representing the three Chinese defendants said their clients also admitted to taking bribes, but rejected other accusations made by prosecution.

The trial is scheduled to conclude on Wednesday.