Earlier this month, we told you about a major chemical contamination in China’s Fujian province that killed over four million pounds of fish.
Now police have detained the Vice President of the company responsible for the spill.
On Thursday China’s largest gold producer, the Zijin Mining Group, said in a statement that Chen Jiahong was taken into custody on Tuesday.
Chen was the head of the mine where toxic waste leaked into the Ding River and the Mian Hua Tan Reservoir. It happened on July 3rd, but the company did not report the spill for nine days.
To deal with the bad publicity that followed, Zijin has reportedly been trying to pay off journalists for them to stay quiet. Bribery is not an uncommon practice for Chinese companies who want to prevent certain stories from being exposed.
Chinese media, China Business News and the China Youth Daily reports that Zijin offered an unnamed business magazine more than $8000 U.S. dollars earlier this month after it sent reporters to cover the leak. Zijin has denied the allegation.