Rio Tinto and two former senior executives were charged with fraud by US authorities Wednesday for inflating the value of the company's Mozambique coal assets, in an action the mining giant vowed to vigorously defend.

The complaint was filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in a Manhattan court, Rio said, with the miner, its former chief executive Tom Albanese and ex-chief financial officer Guy Elliott accused of failing to follow accounting standards and company policies.

Source: AFP