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U.S. SEC paid $3.75 mln to BHP Billiton whistleblower -report

MELBOURNE, Aug 29 (Reuters) - The U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . Securities and Exchange Commission paid a BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) insider $3.75 million for detailed information in an investigation into alleged bribery of Asian and African officials, the Australian Financial Review reported on Monday.

Citing legal sources, the newspaper report said it was the first time an employee of an Australian company had received a U.S. whistleblower bounty.

BHP last year settled the SEC case, paying $25 million to resolve charges it violated a U.S. anti-bribery law by failing to properly monitor a program in which it paid for dozens of foreign government officials to attend the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

The Australian Financial Review said it did not spell out the evidence that the whistleblower disclosed because it wanted to protect the person's identity.

The world's biggest miner remains under investigation by the Australian Federal Police.

(Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Andrea Ricci)