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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Chinese milk scam duo face death |
| 2009-01-22 |
| Two men have been given the death penalty for their involvement in China's contaminated milk scandal. The former boss of the Sanlu dairy at the centre of the scandal was given life imprisonment. They are among 21 sentences being handed down by the court in northern China, where Sanlu is based. The scandal, in which melamine was added to raw milk to make it appear higher in protein, led to the deaths of six babies and made some 300,000 ill. It caused outrage in China and has tainted the image of the country's food industry both at home and abroad. The most senior figure to be sentenced was Tian Wenhua, who was chairwoman of the Sanlu Group, the largest producer of baby milk powder. When the scandal broke in September, it emerged that Sanlu had known it was selling toxic milk - and allowed around 900 tonnes of it to leave its dairies. It was only when its New Zealand partner intervened that production stopped. Tian Wenhua pleaded guilty to charges of producing and selling fake or substandard produce in December. The Intermediate People's Court in Shijiazhuang gave her a life sentence and ordered her to pay a fine of 20m ($2.9m) yuan. Sanlu itself was fined 50m yuan ($7.3m), Xinhua news agency reports, even though the firm has been declared bankrupt. Three other former Sanlu executives were given between five years and 15 years. Earlier the court sentenced Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping to death. Zhang Yujun was accused of running an illegal workshop in Shandong province in eastern China, producing 600 tonnes of the fake protein powder - the largest source of melamine in the country. He was sentenced along with Zhang Yanzhang - accused of selling on Zhang Yujun's protein powder - who was given a life sentence. Milk producer, Geng Jinping had been convicted of producing and selling toxic food to dairy companies. His associate Geng Jinzhu was given eight years in prison. Gao Junjie, who was also accused of selling protein powder to milk producers, received a suspended death sentence, Xinhua said. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #9 and this is different from the Chicago Way, how? |
| Posted by: Skunky Glins 5*** 2009-01-22 20:05 |
| #8 It's the Chinese way. It's the Goodfellas way, with a twist. Restaurateur gives a share of his business to a mobster in exchange for "protection" that he never needed before that mobster's thugs showed up to give him a hard time. Over time, mobster takes over the restaurant and loots it. Then he burns it down for insurance. In Hu Jintao's China, the proprietor who got gypped even gets a life term. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2009-01-22 19:00 |
| #7 @#6. It's the Chinese way. |
| Posted by: Spusosh at work. 2009-01-22 18:38 |
| #6 Word on the street is that the milk company CEO was highly-regarded within the company, and that the Chinese regulatory authorities had OK'd melamine as a milk additive (probably without either knowing about its effects or bothering to check its effects on humans). I think at worst, melamine adulteration by suppliers merits the closure of the company and the seizure of its assets, especially when Chinese regulatory authorities approved its use. Instead of reforming the appropriate regulatory authority and compensating the aggrieved, the Communists are executing someone who built the company up from scratch, had the company confiscated from her by greedy Party members, who then saddled her with the blame for an additive that they approved. If there's anyone who needs to be shot, it's Hu Jintao and the entire senior cohort of the Communist Party, not her. The real problem here isn't evil Chinese businessmen - it's lazy, conniving and murderous Party higher-ups who kill law-abiding scapegoats rather than look in the mirror for the real criminals. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2009-01-22 17:47 |
| #5 hurts the food industry huh. Ramen noodles stock is gonna slip |
| Posted by: rabid whitetail 2009-01-22 17:27 |
| #4 I agree with the chinese government on this one. If the US did more of these things..wall street might be a more honest place. I disagree. My belief is that these people could not have done what they did without approval from the upper ranks of government. This is a state-owned company, after all, and information about the milk was disclosed to the Communist leadership in 2007. The Communists are picking out 21 scapegoats in lieu of giving out prison sentences to the thousands of party members and business people who poisoned the milk and compensating the parents whose babies were poisoned by the milk. Ultimately, if anyone's to be shot, it should be Hu Jintao, not his minions. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2009-01-22 15:52 |
| #3 Gonna make 'em drink their own product? No. It will be a rifle shot to the back of the head. The Chinese are quite efficient in their State Executions. |
| Posted by: Spusosh the Prolific6862 2009-01-22 13:30 |
| #2 Gonna make 'em drink their own product? |
| Posted by: mojo 2009-01-22 11:22 |
| #1 I agree with the chinese government on this one. If the US did more of these things..wall street might be a more honest place. |
| Posted by: Omuth McGurque8303 2009-01-22 10:48 |