NANJING - Six companies in East China's Jiangsu province were ordered to pay 160 million yuan ($26 million) for discharging waste chemical to rivers by a court on Tuesday.
It is the highest fine of its kind in China ever imposed.
The companies from Taizhou city were ordered to pay the amount to an environmental protection fund within 30 days. They were found guilty of discharging 25,000 tons of waste acid into two rivers, which caused serious pollution, according to Jiangsu Provincial Higher People's Court.
In August, Taizhou Intermediate People's court sentenced 14 people involved in the pollution to prison terms ranging from two to five years and ordered the companies to pay 160 million yuan within nine months.
The six companies appealed and Jiangsu Provincial Higher People's Court upheld the ruling on Tuesday.
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263 Registration Number: 130349 
