  We study the direct CP violation effect in the decay mode $B^+ \to \phi K^+$.
This decay mode is dominated by the loop induced $\bar b \to \bar s s \bar s$
penguin diagram with a tiny contribution from annihilation diagram. Therefore,
the standard model expectation of direct CP violation is negligibly small.
Using QCD factorization approach we find the CP asymmetry in the standard model
to be at percent level. We consider then two scenarios beyond the standard
model, the model with an extra vector like down quark (VLDQ) and the R-parity
violating supersymmetric model (RPV) and show that the direct CP violating
asymmetry in $B^+ \to \phi K^+ $ could be as large as ~85% (70%) in VLDQ (RPV)
model.
