Drug Cheif Sentenced to Death

[Deborah]

in China.....Here, it would be a slap on the hand, then business as usual.
Might we see less corruption and deaths due to drugs rushed to market (for a price), if the consequences were stiffer here?

Corrupt drug chief sentenced to death
By Li Xinran 2007-5-29  
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CHINA'S former top drug regulator was sentenced to death in a Beijing court this morning on charges of bribe taking and negligence.

Zheng Xiaoyu, once the director of State Food and Drug Administration, was given a death penalty at the Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court on the charges of pocketing 6.49 million yuan (US$840,000) in bribes and dereliction of duty, Xinhua news agency reported.

Zheng may appeal to a higher court within 10 days, according to China's criminal procedure law. Otherwise he will be executed in seven days after the sentence takes effect.

Zheng was convicted to accept bribes from eight pharmaceutical companies from June 1997 to December 2006 and seek profits for them by taking advantages of his post.

Drug companies were reported to gain approval for good manufacturing practice certificates or drug licenses from Zheng after gifting him and his family members money and shares, among others.

From 2001 to 2003, Zheng promoted the upgrading of the drug licensing system around the country. Zheng autocratically handled the issue and never reported it higher-up.

Instead of using a democratic decision-making procedure, Zheng acted presumptuously to lower the criterion for certificate upgrading, which allowed drug companies to obtain new licenses by falsifying data and information. He even approved six bogus drugs.

Zheng's "dereliction of duty" was revealed by a series of health scares and corruption scandals.

Drugs improperly approved by Zheng's agency reportedly included an antibiotic that killed at least 10 patients last year before it was taken off the market.

Zheng was fired in 2005 on charges he took up millions of yuan bribes to approve untested medicines. He was expelled earlier this year from the Communist Party of China and put into custody for further investigation.

Zheng's case prompted the central government to launch a sweeping investigation of the Chinese drug industry. Authorities ordered a review of 170,000 drug licenses, most of them granted in 1999-2002, when Zheng was in office.
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article ... 317625.htm

The China Business News said earlier that 31 people are alleged to be involved in the corruption scandal, with several of them holding senior positions within the pharmaceutical industry.
Zheng's wife Liu Naixue and son Zheng Hairong, plus a number of drug companies were also investigated.
One firm named was the Kongliyuan Group from South China's Hainan Province. It is alleged to have bribed Zheng in return for SFDA approvals of 277 medicines, most of which were antibiotics that yield high profits.
[Hmm. Sounds like Bush's TMAP]
http://chinaelections.org/en/readnews.a ... E70C5A1%7D

[Anonymous]

No, they don't fuck around over there! . ::stab::

[Nihilanthic]

Wow, China did something very very right.

[Anonymous]

If you ask nicely maybe you can be the executioner.

[Deborah]

We'll see what Ms Palazzo gets.

http://www.dailycomet.com/apps/pbcs.dll ... /706141966

Psychiatrist indicted for fraud in Paxil trials
The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS Dr. Maria Carmen Palazzo was indicted by a federal grand jury on 55 counts of health care fraud and false documentation in connection with a clinical trial of Paxil in children and adolescents, U.S.
Attorney Jim Letten said on Thursday.

The indictment alleges that during approximately a five-year period, Palazzo, 55, of New Orleans, defrauded Medicare in connection with services she claimed to have rendered to patients in a Psychiatric Partial Hospitalization Program at Touro Infirmary.

The indictment also charges that Palazzo defrauded Medicare by submitting fraudulent invoices to Touro for consulting and medical director services. The indictment says because of that Medicare paid Palazzo over $653,000 she was not entitled to receive.

Palazzo, who specializes in psychiatry, is also charged with offenses relating to clinical trials involving Paxil.

According to the indictment, Palazzo, as a clinical investigator for SmithKline Beecham doing business as GlaxoSmithKline, fraudulently failed to maintain and prepare records required by the FDA for evaluation the drug's safety and effectiveness in children and adolescents.

If convicted, Palazzo faces a maximum term of 445 years, and a fine of $10.15 million, Letten's office said.

[Karass]

They don't fuck around with slavery either...

Slaves' families are angry with kiln owner's sentence
By Ching-Ching Ni, Times Staff Writer
5:31 PM PDT, July 18, 2007


BEIJING -- Workers' families and friends reacted with anger Wednesday after the owner of a kiln operated with slaves who were beaten and forced to work long days was sentenced to nine years in prison even as two aides received far harsher punishment.

Kiln owner Wang Bingbing, the son of a local Communist Party official, was sentenced Tuesday after being convicted of unlawful detention for the use of slave laborers, including minors, at his kiln in Shanxi province.

The supervisor of his plant, Zhao Yanbing, received the death penalty after he was convicted of beating a mentally impaired worker to death with a shovel because he wasn't working hard enough. Foreman Heng Tinghan, found guilty of intentionally injuring workers and illegal detention, received a life sentence.

"We are very angry. This sentence is too lenient," said Zhang Shanlin, father of a young man so badly beaten and burned he still cannot walk without assistance. "The owner got off too easy. Without him, how could they have enslaved so many people?"

The case, which came to light last month after hundreds of fathers seeking missing children believed to have been sold into slavery pleaded for help on the Internet, exposed the widespread use of slaves at a number of kiln operations in central China.

Tuesday's sentencing came a week after Beijing executed the country's top food and drug safety official for taking bribes and approving fake or deadly medicines sold at home and abroad.

Worried about the latest scandal's potential to further tarnish the country's international reputation, officials have cracked down on 7,500 small kilns across central China and slapping more than a dozen kiln owners and foremen with jail terms.

Chinese media have reported that as many as 1,000 minors were involved in the various operations. Officials say only six child laborers had been freed from the recent raids, leading some critics to that the true extent of the scandal is being covered up.

"The scandal is a blot on socialist China which we must wipe out," said Shanxi Provincial Court Vice President Liu Jimin.

Another 95 mostly lower-level officials have been disciplined for dereliction of duty in the brick kiln slavery saga, with penalties ranging from removal from office to expulsion from the Communist Party.

While officials point to the size of the dragnet as an unprecedented commitment to justice, critics and victim families say it lets bigger fish off the hook.

"These guys are scapegoats," said Zhang Xiaoying, the mother of a 15-year-old boy who had been enslaved and rescued. She is not related to Zhang Sanlin. "They are hired hands. They were just following orders."

Victims of Wang's kiln operation said he relied on his father's power to pay off local police who ignored abuses.

"It's inconceivable that slave labor and gross physical abuse on the scale it's been reported could possibly have gone on without full knowledge of local officials," said Robin Munro, research director at China Labor Bulletin, a watchdog based in Hong Kong. "My guess is too many officials are involved, prosecuting them all would be even worse for the government's image."