BEIJING - THE former chairman of Sanlu Group, the company at the heart of the tainted milk scandal, was sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday, a surprising verdict as many had expected Tian Wenhua to be given the death sentence.
ABOUT THE SCANDAL
THE scandal broke last September, following reports of babies developing kidney stones and other complications after drinking formula milk.
At least six infants died in China, and about 300,000 were hospitalised after drinking tainted milk. Over 80 per cent of the sick were under two.
But there was no such reprieve for two men who produced and sold the chemical melamine to dairy farmers.
Zhang Yujun, 40, and Geng Jinping, 48, were sentenced to death at the northern Shijiazhuang city.
Zhang was found guilty of running a workshop producing 'protein powder' laced with melamine between October 2007 and August last year.
Geng was found guilty of adding the 'protein powder' to raw milk and then selling the contaminated milk to Sanlu and other dairy companies.
Sanlu Group, which was declared bankrupt in the aftermath of the crisis, was fined nearly 50 million yuan (S$11 million) and its former chairman Tian ordered to pay 20 million yuan, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
But news that 66-year-old Tian has escaped the firing squad is likely to infuriate the Chinese public, who have been baying for blood after the contaminated milk killed at least six children and caused almost 300,000 others to fall ill.
This is especially so, given earlier reports in the Chinese state media that she could face the death penalty - even though her lawyer had insisted that her charge of manufacturing and selling fake or sub-standard products carries a maximum sentence of just life imprisonment.
Tian had admitted in court last month that she knew of consumer complaints about the milk in mid-May last year, but did not report them to the local authorities until Aug 2.
The scandal was exposed only in September, when it was revealed in news reports that plastic-making chemical melamine had been widely added to milk in China so as to artificially boost its protein content.
When taken in large quantities, melamine can lead to kidney stones and kidney failure.
While Sanlu was at the centre of the scandal which rocked the world, other major Chinese dairy companies were also found to be practising similar unethical, and deadly, cost-cutting measures.
The fact that only Sanlu executives were charged and convicted did not escape the attention of Chinese netizens, who lambasted the double standards of the courts while heaping abuse on Tian for her 'lucky break'.
'Mengniu, Yili and other dairy companies all added melamine. Why didn't anyone charge them?' wrote one, referring to two of the biggest Chinese dairy brands.
Twenty-one people have gone on trial in recent weeks for their role in the scandal.
Besides Tian, Zhang and Geng, nine others were given stiff prison sentences yesterday, including three of the Sanlu senior executives, who will be locked away for between five and 15 years each.
The closely-watched trial was heavily guarded by police and closed to the public, with Chinese news portals showing just a picture of Tian's back as she was led into the courthouse in her yellow prison vest.
Two fathers with sick babies said they were detained to stop them from attending yesterday's sentencing.
The sentences came just four days before Chinese New Year, with the government looking to close this disgraceful episode before the Year of the Ox.
'The Chinese government authorities have been paying great attention to food safety and product quality,' Foreign Ministry spokesman Jiang Yu told reporters yesterday during a routine briefing.
'China is handling the Sanlu case strictly by law. After the case broke, the Chinese government strengthened rules and regulations and took a lot of other measures to strengthen regulations and monitor food safety,' she said.
But it is unlikely that the world has heard the last of the scandal which led to China-made dairy products being taken off shelves across continents.
Despite a compensation fund of 1.1 billion yuan for the families of affected babies, some parents are fighting for more.
Lawyers representing 213 poisoned children sent an unusual plea to the Supreme Court last week, seeking to sue the dairy companies after local courts refused to take on their cases.
