Day 003 - 30 Jun 94 - Page 48


     
     1        will be saved; they will be kept; they will be made, in
              the process of discovery, available as required by law.
     2
         Q.   I have only a couple more questions, Mr. Preston.  Miss
     3        Steel said yesterday, it was one of the first things she
              said, that they were going to show during the course of
     4        this trial that the public face of McDonald's is a fraud
              and that the truth that lies behind the image is far from
     5        savoury.  Would you like to comment about that?
              A.  I think our public face is the truth.  I think a
     6        publicly owned company, franchised as we are, operating on
              thousands of high streets around the world, has no chance
     7        of not showing its true colours.  There is no point in
              it.  We are trying to feed people, as I said earlier, over
     8        and over and over again, in very short order.  If we did
              not tell the whole, the whole truth, and nothing but the
     9        truth we would have no business; our licensees would have
              no business; our employees  would  have no jobs and our
    10        suppliers, individuals who, for the most part, have no
              contracts with us, yet have made very sizeable investments
    11        to service this organisation, would also have a major
              problem, like:  No business.
    12
         Q.   Two final matters, Mr. Preston.  The first this.  Despite
    13        everything, despite the repeated allegations that your
              company is in truth a fraud that commits -- to use the
    14        words of the defendants -- numerous crimes against the
              rest of humanity, despite their persistence in those
    15        claims, if they were, after all, to see the light and to
              stand up in this court and say, "After all we accept that
    16        we were wrong about all of this; will you accept our
              apologies if we undertake not to repeat what we have
    17        said?", would you accept that or not?
              A.  I would do, just as I did offer once before and the
    18        offer was accepted by three other people.  I would do it
              here and now.
    19
         Q.   Would you extract any financial penalty from them in order
    20        to go with that apology?
              A.  No.
    21
         Q.   The last matter is this.  As you know, Mr. Preston, the
    22        defendants have made a counterclaim against your company
              on the basis of three documents issued by your company
    23        during March, April and May of this year.
              A.  Yes.
    24
         Q.   One of those documents was intended for use inside the
    25        restaurants; the other two were in the nature of
              information for the press. Is that right? 
    26        A.  Yes, that is correct. 
  
    27   Q.   The defendants say that those documents accuse them of
              telling lies in the material they have published about
    28        your company.  They have, despite the fact it was I who
              was supposed to open the case, chosen to announce in this
    29        court that they would graciously let you off the hook if
              you see fit to apologise for those leaflets.  Can I ask
    30        you, are you willing to apologise for those leaflets which
              you issued earlier this year?

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