Chinese dairy boss appeals life sentence in milk scandal

A dairy boss who received a life sentence for her involvement in China’s contaminated milk scandal is asking the courts to overturn the decision.

Citing Tian Wenhua’s lawyer, the official Xinhua News Agency said the 66-year-old Tian submitted an appeal on Sunday to the People’s High Court in Hebei province because there was a lack of evidence to support the charges against her.

At her trial in December, Tian pleaded guilty to charges of producing and selling fake or substandard products after infant formula tainted with the chemical melamine was blamed in the deaths of at least six babies and the illnesses of nearly 300,000 others.

Tian is the former general manager and chairwoman of Sanlu Group Co., the dairy at the centre of the milk scandal.