In the 71-page filing, quoted by FT.com, lawyers representing the company, its former chief executive Tom Albanese, and its ex finance director Guy Elliott argue the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit is “plainly wrong”.

Case relates to allegations of an attempt to cover up multi-billion losses on a coal investment in Mozambique.
The charges originally laid by the SEC in October last year relate to allegations of an attempt to cover up multi-billion losses on a coal investment in the African country.

Those assets were acquired for $3.7 billion in 2011 from ASX-listed Riversdale Mining, but sold a few years later for $50 million. Rio ultimately took a $3-billion write down on Riversdale — later renamed RTCM — in January 2013, when it also fired Albanese.

The SEC argues that Rio should have taken the impairment charge within just 11 months of the acquisition. But at a time, the lawyers said, the company had not yet completed its analysis of the quantity and quality of the available coal or determined whether there was a viable means for transporting the coal to market.

“This is plainly wrong, and each of its claims consequently fail to meet well-established threshold pleading requirements and must be dismissed,” they said.

The professionals also claimed that Rio moved swiftly to impair the value of the coal assets as soon as its received “late-breaking ore-body test results” late in 2012.

The move follows a letter sent in January by Rio and the executives asking the court handling the case to dismiss the fraud charges against them. The SEC rejected such petition.

Defending his tariff plans as he hosted the Swedish PM at the White House, Mr Trump said other countries had "taken advantage of" the US for decades.

Shortly afterwards it was announced that White House economic adviser Gary Cohn, who opposes tariffs, would quit.

The EU has drawn up a $3.5bn (£2.5bn) hit list of retaliatory tariffs.

Motorbikes, whiskey and T-shirts are on the bloc's list of 100 American products, the BBC understands.

"The European Union has been particularly tough on the United States," Mr Trump said at Tuesday's joint press conference with the Swedish prime minister.

"They make it almost impossible for us to do business with them," Mr Trump complained.

Mr Trump said if the EU retaliated, the US would impose a 25% tax on European cars.

But the US president also said America would levy tariffs in a "loving, loving way".

"They'll like us better and they'll respect us more," he said about US trade partners who object to the plan.

"When we're behind on every single country, trade wars aren't so bad," he told reporters at the White House.

Mr Trump's decision to raise import taxes on steel to 25% and aluminium to 10% prompted strong reactions around the world last week.

Swedish PM Stefan Lofven said: "I am convinced that increased tariffs will hurt us all in the long run."

Mr Lofven is the first European leader to visit the White House since the tariffs were announced last week.

Members of Mr Trump's Republican party have voicing disquiet at his proposal.

Just before Mr Trump spoke, Senate leader Mitch McConnell said: "There is a lot of concern among Republican senators that this could sort of metastasise into sort of a larger trade war."

Earlier on Tuesday, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said the tariffs were too broad.

He urged Mr Trump "to be more surgical" when selecting which countries to target "so we do not have unintended consequences".

Congressman Mark Meadows, who chairs the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus, said most lawmakers had told him they did not support the president's decision.

Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said his country was planning its own tariffs on US goods.

He said they would issue them in a way that is most politically damaging to Mr Trump.

"We would have to target our response at the things they export that are most politically sensitive and hit exactly those goods," he told Mexican broadcaster Televisa.

Mr. Dwyer brings more than 30 years of international investment banking experience, making him uniquely qualified to further strengthen Golomt Bank’s Board functions as well as the overall corporate governance system of the Bank.

About Mr. James B. Dwyer 
Mr. Dwyer co-founded and was appointed Executive Director to manage the activities of Business Council of Mongolia (BCM) from its formation in August 2007 to April 2016 and served as Vice Chairman until April 2017. He lived in New York City and worked for Wall Street-based firms as an investment banker specializing in Mergers & Acquisitions since the 1970's including the position as Global Head of M&A for Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS). Mr. Dwyer relocated to Ulaanbaatar in May 2001 to manage the successful privatizations of Mongolia's two largest commercial banks, Trade & Development Bank and Khan Bank and served pro bono as Chief Operating Officer of NAMBC-Mongolia from 2003 until the formation of BCM in 2007. He serves as an Independent Director of Mandal General Insurance, Independent Director of Mongolia Growth Group (TSXV), Non-executive Chairman of Mongoljin Private Capital, and Chairman and President of Mongolian Education Foundation (U.S. affiliate of the American University of Mongolia). Mr. Dwyer also provides advisory services to selected entities. He graduated with a BBA from the University of Notre Dame and received an MBA from Columbia Graduate School of Business. James subsequently served as President of Columbia Business School’s Alumni Association (currently 40,000 alumni).

During a PDAC conference, the Mongolian Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry spoke to attendees about Mongolia's plans for establishing a resource treasury fund, beginning with the issuance of Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi shares as an IPO available to the international market.

Xanadu Mines reported on their plans to be dually listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Investors attending the Mongolia conference asked about the stability of Mongolia's tax environment and asked for clarification about tax reforms that would impact the transfer of special mining and exploration licenses. The Minister of Mining told investors that the government is working on tax solutions that would focus on a company’s profits rather than its sales.

During the conference, Mongolian Metals Corporation, Steppe Gold and other companies with Mongolian interests presented their projects to foreign investors. In 2017, it was announced that Steppe Gold planned to issue an IPO, and the company has started to intensify its exploration in Mongolia.

The company recently bought the Altan Tsagaan Ovoo special mining license from Centerra Gold for 9.8 million USD, and has initiated drilling of 4,000 meters at the mine site.

Steppe Gold also purchased a license for the Uudam Khundii exploration project in Bayankhongor Province with an 80/20 percent joint venture with the local government. According to company, initial exploration work has been completed, resulting in the identification of four new gold reserves. Mongolian Metals Corporation has purchased 13 exploration licenses within the last 12 years, and has been actively conducting exploration on 75,000 hectares in Bayankhongor Province over the past nine years.

The company reports that it identified promising reserves of gold, copper, and silver in 2017. Bloomberg TV Mongolia reported that during the conference, Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry D. Sumiyabazar informed investors that Mongolia will lower taxes on the sale of mining licenses.

MAK's expected ratings reflects the Mongolia-based coal miner's adequate liquidity and debt maturity profiles, assuming it completes the proposed bond deal and debt restructuring. The company plans to repay some of its existing loan facilities that are in default with proceeds from the proposed bond. The remaining loans will be restructured based on terms outlined in the signed consents and waivers from each respective lender.

MAK intends to repay the loans from EBRD and DEG with the proceeds from the proposed bond issuance. The consent and waivers from the company's other lenders expire on May 31, June 30, (Development Bank of Mongolia) and August 31 (BHF-BANK Aktiengesellschaft). In addition, the EKF loan consents and waivers require MAK to complete its proposed bond issuance by March 31, 2018.

MAK's expected IDR incorporates Fitch's expectation that the company will be able to generate positive free cash flows over the medium term, barring a significant deterioration in coal prices. This is based on the assumption that MAK will be able to reduce production costs and capex during moderate coal price weakness.

These expectations are counterbalanced by MAK's history of aggressive debt-funded investments, and limited access to external funding, which may heighten the company's liquidity risk if there is a sharp, sustained coal price or demand downturn and unfavourable capital market conditions.

The final ratings are contingent upon successful issuance of the proposed bond and completion of the restructuring in line with the terms already received, and upon receipt of final documents conforming to information already received.

Oyunbayar.N

MIAT technical director Ayush Tuvd told Russian Aviation Insider at the MRO Russia and CIS 2018 convention that the airline has plans to upgrade five more An-2s this year, while the total plan includes 24 aircraft. He also commented that the entire fleet is required for the airline, so it is not considering any external orders for modernisation just yet.

The Mongolian aviation authorities have already validated the Russian airworthiness certificate for the TVS-2MS. The aircraft re-engined in Mongolia will have a letter M added to their designation, TVS-2MS-M, which stands for “modernised”. The main difference from the basic TVS-2MS is Garmin 800 avionics suite instead of Garmin 500, and a proposed installation of a Honeywell-made APU in the future. Mr Tuvd explained that the APU is required because the aircraft will be operated far from the maintenance base, and the APU will help solve the issue with charging batteries.

There are currently 23 MIAT Mongolian Airlines engineers involved in the project, but the operators intends to send 17 more to be trained in Novosibirsk.

"We aim to encourage the fair businessmen and good taxpayers by reducing their taxes," Hurelsukh said at an event introducing the tax law reform.

Efforts will be made to fight tax fraud and tax evasion, he said.

Under the tax reform, 90 percent of the tax paid by small and medium-sized businesses with income of less than 1.5 billion MNT (630,000 U.S. dollars) per year will get a refund.

The amendments would also reduce the number of reports required from SMEs. Companies with an annual income of over three billion MNT would be required to issue tax reports four times a year, and those with less than three billion MNT in annual income would be required to file reports twice per year. The amendments would be implemented in January 2019 if approved.

During the meeting the parties agreed to conclude Intergovernmental agreement to cooperate in energy sector in the near future. Energy Minister of Russia, A.V.Novakov also emphasized that many Russian companies show interest in cooperating in energy sector with Mongolia.

At the same time, the first meeting of the working group on Energy cooperation of Mongolia and Russia was held and further actions were defined.

Russia's Deputy Minister of Energy A.B.Yanovsky, the head of the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Energy, deputy heads and other officials of the Russian Ministry of Energy, Minister of Energy of Mongolia Ts.Davaasuren and representatives of the National Dispatching Center LLC and National Power Transmission Grid State owned JSC attended the meeting.

B.Misheel