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A Chinese court has accepted a bankruptcy petition for Sanlu Group which was at the center of a tainted milk scandal and is facing huge debts, an official said Thursday.

Wang Jianguo, spokesman for the city government of Hebei provincial capital Shijiazhuang, said the Intermediate People's Court of Shijiazhuang City has accepted the petition made by the Heipingxi Road branch of Shijiazhuang City Commercial Bank - a creditor of Sanlu.

Sanlu Group faces 1.1 billion yuan (160 million U.S. dollars) of net debts, Xiang said at a press conference.

As of Oct. 31, financial auditing and assets appraisal showed the group's total assets were worth 1.56 billion yuan while its total debts were 1.76 billion yuan, the spokesman said.

On Dec. 19, Sanlu Group borrowed 902 million yuan to pay the medical fees of children sickened by its melamine-tainted baby formula and to compensate the victims. - PNA