-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.
To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Buffalo Grill sellers cause stampede Jon Henley in Paris Wednesday January 08 2003 The Guardian An avalanche of sell orders cost shares in the scandal-hit French steakhouse chain Buffalo Grill more than half their value yesterday as the stock resumed trading for the first time since December 18. Trading in Buffalo Grill had to be delayed at the start of the session because there were "way too many sell orders", one trader said, and by lunchtime the share was changing hands at 5.50 euros, little more than 40% of its pre-opening value. Four top managers of the company and its purchasing subsidiary, Districoupe, are under formal investigation, one step short of being charged, in an investigation by judge Marie-Odile Bertella-Geffroy into a number of deaths in France from the human form of mad cow disease. At least two of the victims were alleged to be frequent customers at Buffalo Grill, which has 150 restaurants in France and 50 in the rest of Europe. The chain is said to have imported British beef between 1996 and 2000, when the meat was banned in France because of fears it could be tainted with the brain-wasting disease. In an exceptional step yesterday, Ms Bertella-Geffroy wrote to the Paris public prosecutor to ask for the inquiry's initial evidence against Buffalo Grill to be made public in an attempt to prove the continuing necessity of her investigation and halt media speculation. The company's founder and supervisory board chairman, Christian Picard, made the same request - for the opposite reasons - last week, asking the French prime minister and justice minister to order the release of all relevant documents to show that the case against the chain was "inconsistent, dishonest, and completely empty of any telling or serious element". Mr Picard's lawyer, Jean-Pierre Versini-Campinchi, said the public prosecutor's assertion that the documents were covered by French judicial secrecy laws was becoming "more and more untenable". A growing number of "well-directed and carefully organised leaks" to the press made publication of the entire dossier essential, he said. Emeric Ernoult, another Buffalo Grill lawyer, said one such leak - to Le Canard Enchainé - was "just a lot of fuss about nothing". The satirical magazine printed an apparently incriminating email from a quality control manager referring to meat "from the mad cow disease period" which "must be got rid of". Mr Ernoult said the mail referred to stocks of Argentinian and Brazilian beef built up in 2001, when a number of new cases of mad cow disease were coming to light in France. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
