China Dairy Boss Pleads Guilty In Melamine Case
BEIJING (Reuters) - The chairwoman of a Chinese dairy company went on trial on Wednesday over a tainted milk scandal that has killed at least six children and made thousands ill.
Tian Wenhua, 66-year-old former general manager of the now bankrupt Sanlu Group, pleaded guilty to charges of "producing and selling fake or substandard products," state-run Xinhua news agency said.
Tian appeared with three other company executives at a court in Shijiazhuang, capital of northern Hebei province. It was unclear whether they could face the death penalty.
"(Tian) may face a maximum penalty of death for producing and selling contaminated baby milk food, along with three of her senior managers at the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court," the official China Daily said on Wednesday.
But the Xinhua report said the maximum sentence for the charges was life imprisonment.
Executives at Sanlu, partly owned by New Zealand's Fonterra group, failed to report cases of Chinese children developing kidney stones and other complications from drinking milk adulterated with melamine for months before the scandal broke in September.
Melamine, an industrial compound used in making plastic chairs, countertops, plates, flame retardants and even concrete, has been added to food to cheat nutrition tests due to its high nitrogen content.
Another 17 people involved in producing, selling, buying and adding melamine in raw milk have gone on trial in the last week.
At least six children have died and more than 290,000 made ill from the contaminated milk, battering already dented faith in China-made products and prompting massive recalls around the world.
More …