A Seoul court Friday sentenced a former chief of Reckitt Benckiser’s local unit to seven years in prison, after more than five years since the accusations on toxic humidifier disinfectants first surfaced in 2011.

The Seoul Central District Court convicted ex-CEO Shin Hyun-woo of skipping the due safety tests for the disputed products and for using false advertisements with terms such as “harmless” and “safe for babies.” The lower court handed down the maximum criminal penalty possible under the current law.

“His misconduct has resulted in enormous damage to victims, many of whom were infants, leaving their parents and family members in guilt for the rest of their lives,” said the court in its ruling, confirming Shin’s liability in the manslaughter charges.

“The victims’s sufferings could have been prevented or at least minimized, if companies had gone through product safety checks prior to sales.”

In 2000, Shin, a key figure in the scandal, took office as CEO of Oxy Reckitt Benckiser, which was renamed Reckitt Benckiser Korea in 2014. He oversaw the sales of more than 4.5 million humidifier sterilizers containing the toxic chemicals PHMG and PHG from 2001.

But Shin’s successor John Lee, who served Oxy from 2005-2010, was spared from charges due to a lack of evidence.

A group of other officials related to the sales of the toxic products were handed down jail terms of five to seven years, but most of them were exempted from fraud charges due to the “lack of intention.”

This included the former CEO of Lotte Mart Noh Byung-yong and former sales chief of Homeplus Kim Won-hoi, who were both held accountable for the manufacturing and sales of in-house brand products that caused lung damage to users.

The court also handed down a fine of 150 million won ($126,000) to Oxy Reckitt Benckiser, Home Plus and Cefu, another brand of toxic humidifier disinfectant.

The humidifier disinfectant case, one of the worst scandals involving consumer chemical products here, came to light after four pregnant women died of lung problems from unknown causes in 2011.

In November, prosecutors sought 20 years in prison for Shin and 10 years for Lee for failing to confirm toxic chemicals in Oxy’s humidifier disinfectants that were responsible for at least 177 victims since 2011.

As of December last year, a state-led investigation confirmed the connection between at least 258 lung-related damage cases and the chemicals used in humidifier disinfectants. However, civic groups have said the total number of victims is well above 200,000, due to the delayed response and insufficient action of the government.

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)