Guangxi officials jailed for river pollution

Two former environment officials in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region were jailed on Monday for dereliction of duty in a river pollution case that happened last year.

Mo Sijian, former director with the Pinggui branch of Hezhou City Bureau of Environmental Protection (HCBEP), and Tang Chuancheng, former head of HCBEP's environmental monitoring team, were sentenced to two years and eighteen months in prison respectively, the Babu District people's court announced in a statement.

The court found that Mo accepted lavish meals and was entertained by owners of Huiwei, an ore processor that polluted the Hejiang River, before ordering Tang to help the company obtain a pollutant discharge permit to which it was not entitled.

The statement said that both Mo and Tang neglected their duties as government officials, resulting in major environmental pollution and causing huge damage to public and private property.

The pollution of the river was discovered in July 2013 when dead fish were spotted. Investigations found that the pollutants were thallium and cadmium, both toxic to humans.