Fonterra says it will provide any documents a Chinese court requests after former Sanlu group chief Tian Wenhua formally lodged an appeal against her life sentence.
"Fonterra would naturally comply with any requests for information we receive from the Chinese authorities," said Graeme McMillan, group director of corporate
communications.
Tian's lawyer Liang Zikan told Xinhua news agency she was appealing because "the sentencing in the first trial did not clearly distinguish the facts and lacked evidence".
Tian, 66, was convicted last month for "manufacturing and selling fake or substandard products" in connection with a melamine milk-contamination scandal which led to at least six baby deaths and made nearly 300,000 children ill.
She said during her trial that an unnamed Fonterra board member - believed to be Patrick Kwok - had given her a document stating the European Union's permitted level of melamine was a maximum of 20mg for every kilogram of milk, and decided not to stop production of the tainted products because she had trusted the documents at that time.
Mr Kwok, who is thought to be in Hong Kong, could not be contacted yesterday - both his cellphone and direct dial have been disconnected, and he was not answering calls at the hotel where he is said to be staying.
Fonterra yesterday told the Herald the company stood by not naming the board member.
"We have made it clear we will not be naming the person," Mr McMillan said.
Sanlu was 43 per cent owned by Fonterra - New Zealand's largest company - and was the first and biggest dairy producer found to have sold dairy products contaminated with melamine, a chemical used to make plastics, which was mixed into watered-down milk to give readings of higher protein levels.
Fonterra also insists it had told Sanlu that "the only acceptable level of melamine was zero" and company chief executive Andrew Ferrier said he had documented evidence to prove it.
However, despite calls to make those documents public, Fonterra said they could not be released because of Tian's appeal.
"At this point, we will not be releasing these documents," Mr McMillan said yesterday.
Tian was among three people jailed for life over the scandal.
Two men were given the death penalty and another a suspended death sentence, while others were imprisoned for terms ranging from two to 15 years.
