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Li Dongyang receives medical treatment - Source: Reuters -
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Chinese authorities are putting six men on trial for the tainted milk powder scandal that killed infants there and threatened the reputation of New Zealand's largest corporation Fonterra
Of the six, two men, prosecutors say, lay at the heart of the tainted milk scandal.
Police say Zhang Yujun and Zhang Yanzhang illegally manufactured and sold a so-called "protein powder" mostly made up of malt starch and melamine, a toxic chemical used to harden plastic.
The powder boosted protein readings in infant formula and nearly 300,000 Chinese babies were sickened, 54,000 needed hospital care for excruciating kidney failure and six died.
The court heard that Yujun made and sold 600 tonnes of the melamine cocktail in the nine months before he was discovered.
The other resold about 230 tonnes to companies like San Lu.
The crisis has bankrupted that company, which is a joint venture with dairy giant Fonterra - its boss learning a hard lesson.
"We'll reinvest in China.... we'd want control and oversight over the whole supply chain," says Andrew Ferrier, Fonterra's chief executive.
The San Lu partner, the municipal government of Shijiazhuang, is offering some compensation.
"If any enterprises face difficulties, the government will do
their best to help them," said
Wang Jianguo, Shijiazhuang municipal government spokesman.
But there are concerns for the families whose children needed medical care.
San Lu has borrowed nearly $230 million, supposedly to compensate them.
That's reportedly been given to China's dairy association to hand out, which isn't saying what it's doing with the money.
So far no court will accept any lawsuit filed by those families and the issue of compensation remains highly sensitive.
