BEIJING - A Chinese man was sentenced to death and 14 others were jailed Wednesday for manufacturing and selling fake liquor that killed 14 and sickened 41 others, state media said.
The Guangzhou Intermediate People`s Court sentenced 26-year-old Cheng Caiming to death for selling harmful industrial alcohol to underground spirit manufacturers as drinkable alcohol, reported Xinhua news agency.
Yi Xinling, who bought and onsold the fake product made with poisonous industrial formaldehyde, was sentenced to 13 years. Other owners of the illegal spirit factories were also given jail terms from nine to 12 years.
The court found that Cheng bought 15 barrels of industrial alcohol from a chemical firm between March and May last year, changed the labels and sold them to Yi as drinkable alcohol.
Fourteen people were killed and 41 others were ill -- some seriously -- after drinking the fake alcohol, it said.
Officials say fake and substandard food products in China has shaken the faith of export buyers in Japan, the United States and Hong Kong, and has led to a substantial drop in some food exports.
05/18/2005 13:26 GMT