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China court sentences three executives for water pollution

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] A court in China's Yunnan Province on Tuesday sentenced three executives from a Chinese chemical company for polluting Yangzonghai Lake. Chengjiang Jinye Industry and Trade Company chairman Li Dahong was sentenced to four years in jail and fined 300,000 yuan ($44,000 USD) by the Chengjiang County Basic Level Court, while general manager Li Yaohong and production department chief Jin Dadong were each sentenced to three years and fined 150,000 yuan ($22,000 USD). The company itself was fined 16 million yuan ($2.3 million USD) after the lake was found to be heavily contaminated with industrial chemicals, including arsenic, traced to Jinye's fertilizer plants. In October, the executives were arrested, and 12 government officials were fired, as a result of the closure of a water plant which supplied water to 26,000 people. Last February, China's National People's Congress passed an enhanced water pollution law that increased penalties for company officials. China's has 22 percent of the world's population, but holds only 8 percent of the world's water, making water pollution a growing concern.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on June 02, 2009 (boomark / email).