Day 068 - 16 Dec 94 - Page 51
1 challenge one of the reasons and you have suddenly thought
2 of something in relation to that, then I understand and
3 sympathise that you want to ask something about it ---
4
5 MR. MORRIS: McDonald's -----
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7 MR. JUSTICE BELL: -- but try not to cover the same ground.
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9 MR. MORRIS: Evidence has been given in this court that
10 McDonald's have used beef from Brazil, in other countries.
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12 MR. RAMPTON: No, my Lord, that is not right. I will not have
13 that. The only evidence in this court so far is that there
14 is an allegation that for a short time during one year ---
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16 MR. MORRIS: Why do you not tell him everything?
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18 MR. RAMPTON: -- McDonald's supplied -- no, Mr. Morris must not
19 misrepresent the effect of the evidence in court.
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21 MR. MORRIS: I have never misrepresented it.
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23 MR. RAMPTON: Yes, he has; he used the plural.
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25 MR. MORRIS: I had not even finished my sentence.
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27 MR. RAMPTON: It is deplorable, and it is not permissible.
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29 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is not my recollection -- you correct me
30 if I am wrong -- I have heard of a suggestion and some
31 evidence in relation to one other country.
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33 MR. MORRIS: Yes.
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35 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You said "in other countries".
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37 MR. MORRIS: OK.
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39 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is quite important to get it right.
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41 MR. MORRIS: (To the witness) So McDonald's, in one other
42 country at least, evidence has been given, has used beef
43 that emanated from Brazil. Does that surprise you, that
44 you have not been told that?
45 A. I do not know. If it is in evidence, then, yes, it
46 does surprise me. I have not seen it.
47
48 Q. Is it possible that things might be happening -- or have
49 been happening in the past -- that the company prefers to
50 forget and does not even tell people in its own company?
51 A. McDonald's does not tend to forget. We learn every
52 single day. We do not forget. The fact that there is
53 evidence that I am not aware of it does not mean that we
54 are forgetting or that I do not know. I have said that, to
55 the best of my recollection, since I have been with the
56 company, we can export beef from Uruguay, and never from
57 Brazil. I never said that we could not do it. We have
58 never banned Brazil from doing it.
59
60 There are countries in which it can be exported. It will
