Lau was accused of asking an executive at the food supplier to pay him illegal kickbacks equal to some 10 percent of the sales amount of corn provided to McDonald’s outlets in Hong Kong, officials said.
Between 2005 and 2007, he accepted some 2.5 million Hong Kong dollars ($320,000) from the supplier, deposited to his and his wife’s bank accounts.
McDonald’s said Lau has been fired.
«McDonald’s does not tolerate criminal wrongdoing, or breaches of its code of conduct for employees,» the company said in a statement.
Lau joined the fast food giant in Los Angeles in 1983, according to an earlier press release on the company’s Web site.

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. Lau also spent 10 years expanding McDonald’s business in mainland China.
McDonald’s, headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, operates more than 200 restaurants and employs more than 10,000 people in Hong Kong, according to its Web site.

Lau, who faces fines and jail time when he’s sentenced next month, was convicted of two conspiracy charges. He was acquitted of a bribery offense.