Fri, December 26, 2008
SHIJIAZHUANG, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Six people involved in China's melamine adulteration milk scandal went on trial on Friday in four courts in northern Hebei Province.
At the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court, prosecutors charged Zhang Yujun and Zhang Yanzhang of having committed a crime against public security.
The two Zhangs are not related.
The court was told that Zhang Yujun, a native of Quzhou County, Hebei, had raised cattle since July 2007 and concocted the so-called "protein powder" by mixing the chemical melamine and malt starch.
The cattle farmer allegedly produced 775.6 tonnes of "protein powder" that contained melamine from October 2007 through August 2008 and sold more than 600 tonnes with a total value of 6.83 million yuan (998,000 U.S. dollars), the court heard.
Zhang Yanzhang, a native from the same county as Zhang Yujun, bought the protein powder from the latter and resold 230 tonnes.
The "protein powder" was sold to milk collectors in Shijiazhuang, Tangshan, Xingtai and Zhangjiakou cities in Hebei. Some collectors added it to raw milk and sold it to Shijiazhuang-based Sanlu Group, the country's major dairy at the center of the tainted milk scandal.
Both Zhangs expressed remorse during the six-hour hearing. Zhang Yujun asked for leniency and the chance to correct his errors and make a fresh start.
Four others also went on trial in three courts in Wuji, Xingtang and Zhaoxian counties on Friday.
Zhang Heshe and Zhang Taizhen were accused of adding 35 kg of "protein powder" to 70 tonnes of raw milk and selling the tainted milk to Sanlu, the Wuji County court heard.
Yang Jingmin and Gu Guoping were each charged with adding 24 kg of the additive to 40 tonnes and 16.7 kg to 120 tonnes. They also sold the adulterated milk to Sanlu.
The courts will announce the verdicts on an unspecified date.
Sanlu products were found to contain melamine, which was being used to increase the apparent protein content in milk. The use of the industrial chemical is restricted in food.
Children can develop kidney stones after drinking such milk.
Tian Wenhua, Sanlu's former board chairwoman and general manager, will go on trial next Wednesday in the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court.
Sanlu stopped production on Sept. 12. A bankruptcy petition for Sanlu has been filed as it faced 1.1 billion yuan of debt, the Shijiazhuang city government said Thursday.
The Ministry of Health has said it was likely the contamination killed six babies. Another 294,000 infants suffered from urinary problems such as kidney stones.
