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The president of a Chinese dairy company was on trial on Wednesday with a milk scandal in a poor state that killed at least six children and other diseases caused thousands.


Tian Wenhua, 66, and former general manager of the now bankrupt Sanlu Group, pleaded guilty to charges of producing and selling goods of poor quality, "said state news agency Xinhua.

Tian appeared alongside three other executives of the company in a court of Shijiazhuang, capital of the northern province of Hebei. It is still unclear whether they could be condemned to death.


"(Tian) could face the death penalty for producing and selling contaminated baby milk products, along with three of its top managers in the Intermediate People's Court of Shijiazhuang," said the official China Daily Wednesday.

But the Xinhua report said the maximum sentence for the charges was life imprisonment.


Sanlu executives, partly owned by the New Zealand group Fonterra, not made known cases of Chinese children have developed kidney stones and other complications from drinking milk adulterated with melamine for months before they see the scandal became public in September.

Melamine, an industrial compound used in the manufacture of plastic chairs, tops, dishes, fire-resistant products, and even concrete, has been added to certain foods to circumvent quality tests because of its high nitrogen content.


Another 17 people involved in the production, sale, purchase and melamine adulteration in raw milk were on trial last week.

At least six children died and more than 290,000 have become sick from drinking contaminated milk, further damaging confidence in Chinese products and orders, triggering massive withdrawals worldwide.


Tian told the court Wednesday that he learned about the complaints from consumers for milk in poor condition in mid-May, according to Xinhua cited.

The company ordered a team led by Tian to handle the case, but did not send a written report on the milk powder at the city government of Shijiazhuang until August 2, said Tian.


The Shijiazhuang government did not report the case to senior officials until a month later, which raised speculation that the authorities tried to prevent an outrage stopped organizing the Olympic Games in Beijing.