Day 285 - 23 Oct 96 - Page 31
1 joining issue with whether defending McDonald's was his
2 main motive or defending his family and Costa Rica.
3
4 MR. MORRIS: He does work for McDonald's, or for McDonald's
5 suppliers, so he is part of their, what they call family,
6 McDonald's family.
7
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. Anyway, you are going to come in due
9 course to the evidence of --
10
11 MR. MORRIS: I am sorry I am doing it back to front, but
12 I find it easier this way. So, McDonald's rely on their
13 suppliers and their witnesses relied on hearsay from
14 suppliers. And obviously we have another example of their
15 suppliers making a statement, which is Sergio Quintana
16 from Co-op Montecillos, stating on camera that they were
17 supplying beef for McDonald's in the USA. And suddenly
18 then their suppliers are unreliable, don't know what they
19 are doing, possibly liars, even though he supplies
20 McDonald's, he was the sales director for a company that
21 is supplying them in Costa Rica.
22
23 When he was questioned by Peter Heller in English and
24 answered in English, he was asked -- I will not read it
25 all out now -- but he was asked the question two or three
26 times, and said, "Are you sure, do you really supply the
27 fast food chains". The way he was asked left it
28 completely up to him to come up with an honest reply. It
29 was not tricks, it was not said, no one asked him, "Do you
30 supply McDonald's". They said, "Which fast food chains do
31 you supply". In fact, the transcript of that interview on
32 the film, it says, "Which fast food chains do you supply
33 by that method?" -- by that method -- and he said, "We
34 supply McDonald's and Burger King and also Wendy's, they
35 buy our meat".
36
37 So it was absolutely crystal clear what he was saying,
38 unprompted, and because it was embarrassing to McDonald's
39 they have said that suddenly their suppliers are
40 incompetent or lying.
41
42 I also add that Sergio Quintana, as we have heard,
43 supplied a written confirmation of the truth of the
44 interview, a signed statement confirming the truth of the
45 interview that he made with Peter Heller in 1984. He did
46 not deny saying what he said in his statement for
47 McDonald's in this case.
48
49 MR. JUSTICE BELL: For McDonald's in this case?
50
51 MR. MORRIS: Yes, he did a statement for McDonald's. And we
52 do not have any evidence that McDonald's -- we know that
53 he was not struck off as a supplier or personally
54 disciplined or anything. We have no evidence from
55 McDonald's that they even investigated the situation, and
56 that when Mr. Gonzales investigated the situation for this
57 case he did not even check the export department of that
58 company. So....
59
60 I will just say one more thing while I think of it. I am
