Day 259 - 10 Jun 96 - Page 26


     
     1
     2   Q.   You were in charge of this case?
     3        A.  Yes.
     4
     5   Q.   Effectively, you were threatening to sue the BBC over
     6        statements about rainforests and their destruction (the
     7        programme being about Brazil) and yet you had information
     8        that, in fact, McDonald's was getting beef from Brazil, but
     9        you were keeping that information from the BBC.  Why was
    10        that?
    11        A.  I was not keeping any information from the BBC.
    12
    13   Q.   Why was your company keeping information from the BBC at
    14        the same time as threatening -----
    15        A.  What makes you say that it was?
    16
    17   Q.   There was no mention about this purchase of Brazilian beef
    18        for UK use in the final letter to the BBC, was there?
    19        A.  The final letter just simply set out the terms of our
    20        settlement with them and the wording of the apology they
    21        had undertaken to give.  I do not see where this comes into
    22        it.  As I understand it, this Vestey beef comes thousands
    23        of miles or hundreds of miles from the rainforest area.
    24
    25   Q.   You were giving a misleading impression to the BBC?
    26        A.  I was not giving them a misleading impression about
    27        anything.
    28
    29   Q.   Is that not the case with -- I cannot say all, because I do
    30        not know about all the actions you take -- but most or all
    31        of the actions you take, that you threaten people with
    32        legal action without giving them the full information; you
    33        make misleading statements; and, basically, just try and
    34        intimidate them into silence?
    35        A.  Right.  I have never made a misleading statement
    36        knowingly to anybody, and I have never intimidated
    37        anybody.  If I feel that an organisation or a newspaper or
    38        a television programme has said something about McDonald's
    39        which is untrue, I point it out to them and I ask them to
    40        withdraw it.
    41
    42   Q.   Is it not the case that your company, or solicitors on its
    43        behalf, have sent several hundred solicitors' letters
    44        threatening legal action against people who have criticised
    45        the Company?
    46        A.  Not several hundreds, my Lord.  I doubt whether it
    47        comes to more than a dozen.  I cannot remember the exact
    48        number.
    49
    50   Q.   We have got more than a dozen in the bundles. 
    51        A.  We write to people and say, "This is untrue." 
    52 
    53   Q.   Well, I put it to you that several hundred letters were
    54        sent to various organisations and individuals, telling them
    55        to stop making the criticisms that they were making of the
    56        Company, whether or not -- obviously, there is a dispute
    57        about whether or not they are true; you would agree with
    58        that?
    59        A.  No.
    60

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