SH collapsed building suit gets final judgement

By Gao Changxing and Qian Yanfeng (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-02-11 16:59

SHANGHAI: A court here yesterday sentenced six men and women to between three and five years behind bars for their role in the building collapse in the city's Minhang district last June.

The six were convicted of causing the collapse of an unfinished residential building that killed one migrant worker and led to economic losses of nearly 20 million yuan, according to the verdict from the Minhang district people's court. They had failed to live up to their responsibilities and violated safety management rules, the court said.

Qin Yonglin, project leader with Shanghai Meidu Real Estate Company Ltd, developer of the 11-block Lotus Riverside residential complex, was sentenced to five years in jail for subcontracting earthwork excavation for an underground garage, which led to the building collapse, to an unlicensed subcontractor.

Zhang Yaojie, Xia Jiangang and Lu Weiying, who worked with the construction company, were sentenced to five, four, and three years in prison respectively. Qiao Lei, who supervised the construction, was handed down a three-year jail term.

Zhang Yaoxiong, brother of Zhang Yaojie and subcontractor for the underground garage, was sentenced to four years in jail.

The six were put on trial on February 1. According to Chinese law, a person charged with causing a major accident faces a maximum of seven years' imprisonment if convicted.

The court said it had mitigated the penalties taking into consideration of their voluntary confession.

Around dawn on June 27, 2009, a 13-story unfinished building in Lotus Riverside residential complex in suburban Minhang district fell over, almost intact, killing one migrant worker.

Investigation results showed the building collapse was caused by foundations being undermined by a combination of dug-out soil being piled 10 m high against one side and the digging of a 4.6-m-deep underground car park on the other.

Another two suspects involved in the accident, Zhang Zhiqi and Que Jingde, who were the head and a director on the board of Meidu respectively, has not stood trial yet.

Que, the second largest shareholder in the building's development, was previously revealed to be an assistant to the director of Minhang's local Meilong town government. Que was arrested in August last year on graft charges.