McDonald's fires Hong Kong head after conviction

McDonald's Corp. fired Joseph Lau, its Hong Kong managing director, after a court in the city found him guilty of bribery in connection with food purchases.

Lau, 49, was convicted in the District Court of taking about HK$2.5 million ($323,000) from a corn supplier in return for preferential treatment, the Independent Commission Against Corruption said in a statement yesterday. He also instructed the supplier, Pornthep Srisa-An, to lie to anti-corruption officials, the government agency said.

"We do not tolerate wrongdoing," Liam Jeory, spokesman of the Oak Brook-based fast-food restaurant chain, said by phone today. Lau was suspended more than 18 months ago with Shirley Chang appointed as his replacement.

The anti-graft agency, set up in 1974, prosecuted 333 people with 315 convictions in 2008. Hong Kong was the fourth-least corrupt place in Asia-Pacific in 2008 public perception rankings by Transparency International. China was ranked 12th.

According to the ICAC, Srisa-An, a director of a Thai food company, agreed in mid-2005 to pay Lau 10 percent of the value of corn sales to the restaurant chain in Hong Kong in exchange for the supply contract.

McDonald's bought more than HK$25 million of corn from Srisa-An's company between June 2005 and March 2007, the anti- corruption agency said. The supplier deposited about HK$2.5 million into the bank accounts of Lau and his wife, it said.

Lau and Srisa-An were arrested by ICAC officers on June 29, 2007, the anti-graft agency said. Lau was found guilty of one count of accepting illegal rebates and one of perverting public justice in the district court case DCCC 114/2008.

Sentencing was adjourned to May 6, the anti-corruption agency said.

Lau's lawyer Benedict Chiu of Chiu, Szeto & Cheng, in a phone interview today, declined to comment on the case and wouldn't say if Lau is going to appeal.