Day 285 - 23 Oct 96 - Page 35
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2 MR. JUSTICE BELL: One thing I may need some help on is how he
3 knows. If he just knows the people it is exported to in
4 the United States and they are not McDonald's, how does he
5 know that it goes to McDonald's eventually?
6
7 MR. MORRIS: Well, he --
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9 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You see, he might see it goes to someone who
10 is a middle man in the chain of supply, but what is the
11 basis for him knowing that they supply it to processors
12 who supply it to McDonald's? What is the answer to
13 that?
14
15 MS. STEEL: He does refer to them having to meet the
16 specifications.
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18 MR. MORRIS: He says the type of meat we produce must comply
19 with all the technical requirements which are laid down in
20 the United States, according to the type of product it
21 would be used for. Then he is asked which fast food
22 chains does he supply in this way. "We supply McDonald's
23 and Burger King and also Wendy's, they buy our meat." He
24 is not saying they buy directly from us.
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26 MR. JUSTICE BELL: How does he know that?
27
28 MR. MORRIS: Well, he is the sales director of a supplier to
29 McDonald's in Co-op Montecillos in Costa Rica, and he
30 certainly gives the impression that he knows and he says
31 that he knows. We have to take that admission on face
32 value.
33
34 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Well, we do not necessarily, I am afraid. I
35 mean, I am not saying what my conclusion will be at the
36 end of the day, but I am not taking anything on face value
37 in this case, on either side.
38
39 MR. MORRIS: If he is the sales director of their supplier, he
40 is not going to say something that is not true on camera
41 about one of his suppliers that he has a commercial
42 relationship with in Costa Rica, and it is just not
43 conceivable that he lied or made it up. And he does not
44 deny it, he does not say in - this is the important thing
45 I was trying, the point I was making - he has the
46 opportunity now in this case for all time to say: I did
47 not know, I was speaking, you know, out of my head -- out
48 of my hat, I mean, and, you know, I am sorry for what I
49 did. He does not say that.
50
51 All that happens is that he makes a very carefully crafted
52 statement basically not denying what he said, not denying
53 that he said it and not denying the truth of what he
54 said. All he says in his statement is they have not sold
55 beef to McDonald's. He could have said "we have not sold
56 beef to McDonald's suppliers, as far as I know", or
57 whatever. He had every opportunity to.
58
59 So I think that if somebody is responding to an allegation
60 about what they said with a sworn statement --
