BEIJING - THE former head of the Chinese firm at the centre of the tainted milk scandal, who will stand trial next week, could face the death penalty if convicted, a lawyer said on Friday.

The trial of Tian Wenhua, previously the chairman of Sanlu Group, will open Wednesday at a court in Sanlu's home city, Shijiazhuang in north China's Hebei province, an official with a provincial court told AFP.

'The trial will begin on Dec 31 at the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court,' said the official, who gave only his surname Zhang.

He said other cases involving former Sanlu executives and suppliers had begun on Friday, as the courts began taking over in the case of milk tainted with the toxic chemical melamine that has cost the lives of at least six babies.

'In the most serious scenario where there are death reports, the penalty ... is imprisonment of at least ten years, life sentence or even death,' Beijing-based lawyer Li Xiongbing told AFP.

Mr Li is advising a number of potential plaintiffs asking for damages. Mr Zhang, the court official, declined to disclose more details about the charges and possible penalty.

According to Article 141 and 144 of China's criminal law, a person can be sentenced to death if he or she knowingly produces or sells food with toxic non-food stuffs, causing death or serious harm to human health.

When the milk scandal erupted in September, Sanlu was the first dairy company found to be selling products tainted with melamine, although later several other Chinese firms were implicated.

The Chinese government has reported that in addition to the six children known to have died from the melamine, another 294,000 were sickened from drinking baby formula laced with the chemical.

The scandal shocked China, and tarnished its food industry far beyond its borders, as it appeared the melamine was mixed into the milk on purpose to make it appear richer in protein than it actually was. -- AFP