JURIST - Paper Chase: China court sentences three executives for water pollution

[JURIST] A court in China's Yunnan Province [official website, in Mandarin] on Tuesday sentenced three executives from a Chinese chemical company for polluting Yangzonghai Lake [Greenlaw backgrounder]. Chengjiang Jinye Industry and Trade Company chairman Li Dahong was sentenced to four years in jail [Xinhua report] 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 [China Daily report] with industrial chemicals, including arsenic, traced to Jinye's fertilizer plants.

In October, the executives were arrested [Xinhua report], and 12 government officials were fired [China Daily report], 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 [official website, in Mandarin] passed an enhanced water pollution law [JURIST report] that increased penalties [Xinhua report] for company officials. China's has 22 percent of the world's population, but holds only 8 percent of the world's water [TIME Asia report], making water pollution a growing concern.

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