Day 246 - 09 May 96 - Page 56
1 representative interjected and said -- I do not know, I
2 have no reason to think it did not happen in that way, but
3 I do not remember the occasion.
4
5 Q. Is there anything in there you disagree with or say "No,
6 that is not true"?
7 A. No. I do not materially disagree with anything there.
8
9 Q. OK. I think we can leave that then.
10
11 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Then in section C, Mr. Harris, was it?
12
13 MR. MORRIS: Yes, it is the second one.
14
15 MR. JUSTICE BELL: C2.
16
17 MR. MORRIS: From The Financial Times, Clay Harris is, or he was
18 when he interviewed you on the 14th December 1990, (the
19 second page), the Consumer Industry's Editor and on the
20 third page is the actual article that was printed. Can you
21 read the front page and the second page and say whether
22 they are accurate as far as you can see, or if there is
23 anything incorrect, please point it out.
24 A. What I am reading is the one that starts out FT 14th
25 December 1990.
26
27 Q. Yes. The cover with it just to verify?
28 A. OK.
29
30 Q. The page before.
31 A. In the paragraph that says: "The Company will have an
32 equity stake", I do not know if that is true or not. It
33 may very well be true. As to "undertaking an active
34 management role in marketing the products", I could not
35 confirm or deny that either; I just do not know. This
36 relates to the US company it says, yes?
37
38 Q. If you look at the first page, it says: "I confirm that
39 I wrote the attached article which was published in The
40 Financial Times on December 14th, 1990. The information
41 stated within it were based on an interview I had with Paul
42 Preston at McDonald's Head Quarters in East Finchley on
43 December 11th, 1990", so it is based upon, he says, what
44 you have told him.
45
46 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You are then being asked to read the page
47 after that, not the newspaper article, because that has
48 clearly been very much homed down either by Mr. Harris or
49 some sub editor who thought his original article was far
50 too long, so you are being asked to read the one you are
51 reading now, yes.
52 A. OK. I think the gist of the article is right. I do
53 not ever remember saying we would have an equity stake, but
54 I cannot remember that I did not say it. I know at that
55 time we had active discussions with companies about trying
56 to model something here exactly after what they had done in
57 the United States. That was certainly the intention.
58
59 Q. Right.
60 A. But it did not happen.
