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Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Hong Kong McDonald's head arrested for ‘bribery’ (5:19 p.m.)
HONG KONG - The head of McDonald's Hong Kong branch has been arrested for allegedly accepting bribes from food suppliers in return for using their products, local newspapers reported Tuesday.
McDonald's Hong Kong declined to confirm the arrest of managing director Joseph Lau. It said in a statement that Lau is on leave, and wouldn't immediately say if Lau was suspended or had taken leave voluntarily.
Hong Kong's Ming Pao Daily News said anti-graft officials arrested Lau last week. Apple Daily said McDonald's suspended Lau pending investigation.
Hong Kong's anti-graft agency, the Independent Commission Against Corruption, arrested 27 people for alleged bribery over food supplies to restaurants last week. It declined to say if Lau was among them.
If charged and convicted of bribery, Lau faces a maximum penalty of seven years' imprisonment and a fine of HK$500,000 (US$63,930).
Lau joined McDonald's in Los Angeles in 1983, according to an earlier press release on the company's website. He was the managing director of McDonald's in the Philippines for three years before taking up the top post in Hong Kong in May 2004. (AP) |
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