Mining tycoons lose challenge to UK bribery investigation

A UK judge dismissed efforts by mining tycoons to stop British prosecutors from bringing charges in a wide-ranging investigation into fraud, bribery and corruption, bolstering the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in one of its longest-running and most sensitive investigations.

Judge Michael Supperstone on Tuesday ruled that the SFO didn’t have to restart an independent review assessing whether its probe into Eurasian Natural Resources, a now defunct mining company owned by three wealthy businessmen from the former Soviet Union, had been tarnished by impropriety.