State-owned firms deny bribe claims

Officials from three state-owned companies are denying they were involved in an overseas bribery case in the United States with California-based Control Components Inc (CCI).

Dingzhou Power, Datang Power and China Resources Power Holdings were added to a list of six Chinese entities allegedly involved in the scandal, according to documents released Wednesday by the US Department of Justice, which contained the confession of Mario Covino, CCI's former director of worldwide factory sales.

Last month, officials at CCI pleaded guilty under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to a decade-long scheme involving billions of dollars in payoffs to officials and employees of both state-owned and private companies in dozens of countries in order to secure contracts. The company sells valves for use in power generation industries.