Salt boss admits taking huge bribes
- Source: Global Times
- [02:33 December 02 2009]
- Comments
However, crimes involving unauthorized table salt are not unique to Guangdong.
Twelve people were tried in Chongqing on September 14 for producing and selling nearly 800 tons of fake iodized salt starting in 2007.
Xu Shouhua, the main culprit of the racket, received 13 years in prison, and was fined 400,000 yuan by the Chongqing No.1 Intermediate People's Court on November 5.
Xu and his accomplices bought industrial salt and packages from Foshan in Guangdong Province and localities in Chongqing, repackaged the salt into 500 or 1,000 gram bags and then sold them to wholesalers at a price of 1,800 to 2,000 yuan a ton.
By October of 2008, the fake salt made by the gang had reached 788.85 tons, which are enough for 5 million people for a month.
According to Tu Hong, head of the inspection office of the Chongqing Salt Administration, local governments had strict supervision over industrial salt, which can only be sold directly to chemical plants rather than any other third parties.
"Xu Shouhua cannot buy industrial salt in Chongqing, that's why he went to Guangdong," said the director.
Xu's accomplice Tan Zhengbin said everyone could buy industrial salt in Guangdong.
