FORTY-FIVE people were sentenced in Shenzhen on Friday afternoon for their parts in a landslide that left 73 dead and four others missing in December 2015.

The suspects, mostly from Hong Ao landfill, the Yixiang-long company that manages the dump site and local governments, were tried at the city’s intermediate people’s court, Nanshan District People’s Court and Bao’an District People’s Court from April 26 through 28.

Long Renfu, boss of Shenzhen Yixianglong, was sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined 10 million yuan (US$1.5 million) for the bribery and negligence that led to the accident.

The dump site had a planned storage of 4 million cubic meters and a maximum stack height of 95 meters, but when the accident happened, its actual storage had reached 5.83 million cubic meters and the waste heaps stood as high as 160 meters.

Meng Jinghang, former head of the city’s urban administration bureau, was convicted of abuse of power and taking bribes of 24.9 million yuan and HK$800,000 (US$116,160). He was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment and fined 8 million yuan.

Peng Shuiqing, former head of Guangming’s land and resources authority, was sentenced to 16 years and fined 1 million yuan for the same offenses.

Another 17 government officials were sentenced to between three and seven years in jail for negligence and abuse of power. Another 25 also received penalties.

The landslide occurred when a huge waste pile collapsed. The accident resulted in direct economic losses totaling 880 million yuan, and is believed to have been caused by mismanagement rather than geological reasons.

(Xinhua)