Sanlu ex-boss gets life for milk scandal

By Zhu Zhe and Cui Xiaohuo (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-01-22 15:56

Tian Wenhua, the former chairwoman and general manager of Sanlu Group, the firm at the center of the tainted milk scandal, received life imprisonment on Thursday in north China's Hebei province.

Tian Wenhua, Sanlu's former board chairwoman and general manager, stands trial on December 31, 2008. [Xinhua]

Tian, 66, got the sentence in the Intermediate People's Court of Shijiazhuang for "producing and selling fake or substandard products". Life imprisonment is the maximum punishment for such a charge.

The three other former top Sanlu executives on trial together with Tian under the same charge got sentences varying from five to 15 years.

Wang Yuliang and Hang Zhiqi, both former deputy general managers of Sanlu, were respectively sentenced to 15 years and eight years in prison. Wu Jusheng, former manager of the firm's raw milk department, will stay behind bars for five years.

Contaminated milk products of Sanlu and some other dairy firms killed at least six children and left more than 290,000 with urinary track ailments, including kidney stones. The products were contaminated with toxic chemical melamine, which makes milk appear richer in protein during laboratory tests.