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Mohamed Al-Fayed

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Mohamed Al-Fayed
محمد الفايد
Wax statue of Mohamed Al-Fayed at Harrods
Born
Mohamed Al-Fayed

(1929-01-27) January 27, 1929 (age 95)
El-Gomorok, Alexandria, Egypt
NationalityEgyptian
Occupation(s)Owner of the Hôtel Ritz Paris and Fulham football club,
former owner of Harrods department store and the House of Fraser, Philanthropist
Spouse(s)Samira Khashoggi
(m. 1954–1956, divorced)
Heini Wathén (1985–present)
ChildrenDodi Fayed
Jasmine Al-Fayed
Karim Al-Fayed
Camila Al-Fayed
Omar Al-Fayed
RelativesAli Al-Fayed (brother)
Saleh Fayed (brother)
Two sisters
Websitealfayed.com

Mohamed Abdel Moneim Al-Fayed (Template:Lang-ar Muḥammad `Abd al-Muna`am al-Fāyad) note a (born January 27, 1929 note b) is an Egyptian businessman. After business ventures in Haiti and Dubai, Al-Fayed moved to the United Kingdom and fought a contentious battle for the ownership of the House of Fraser retail group, which included the Harrods department store. Al-Fayed ran Harrods from 1985 to 2010, before its sale to Qatar Holdings.

The owner of Fulham Football Club and the Hôtel Ritz Paris, Al-Fayed has been a controversial figure in the United Kingdom, with his propagation of conspiracy theories over the death of his son Dodi and Diana, Princess of Wales in a car crash in Paris, quest for British citizenship, and his role in the Cash-for-questions affair. His wealth is estimated at $1.2 billion, making him the 993rd richest person in the world.

Early life

Mohamed Abdel Moneim Al-Fayed was born on January 27, 1929,[2] in the El-Gomorok quarter of the Egyptian port city of Alexandria. Al-Fayed's father, Aly Aly Fayed, was a primary school teacher, and later a school inspector.[3] Al-Fayed has two sisters, and two brothers, Saleh (1931–2010), and Ali Fayed (born 1933).[3]

Al-Fayed's mother died shortly after the birth of his brother Ali, and his father remarried. Al-Fayed rebelled against his father, whom he later described as "useless", and was a reluctant school pupil.[3]

Business career

At the age of nineteen Al-Fayed was selling bottles of Coca-Cola on the streets of Alexandria, and sold Singer sewing machines at the age of twenty one.[4] In 1952 Al-Fayed was hired by a friend, Tousson El Barrawi, and the seventeen year old Adnan Khashoggi for their furniture importation business.[5] Al-Fayed excelled at the business and impressed Adhan's father, Mohamed Kashoggi, the personal physcian of the King of Saudi Arabia. In the early 1950s Al-Fayed travelled to Europe for the first time, visiting France, Italy and Switzerland.[6] Returning to Egypt, Al-Fayed confessed to his wife, Samira Kashoggi, Adhan Kashoggi's sister, that he had had an affair, and she demanded a divorce.[7] Al-Fayed terminated his partnership with Adhan Kashoggi, and secretly withdrew £100,000 from Kashoggi's Al Nasr trading company. Kashoggi later issued a writ against Al-Fayed for the return of the money, and later agreed with Al-Fayed to forgive the money and other loans and debts for Samira's freedom to remarry and return to Egypt.[8] Al-Fayed retained custody of their only child, Dodi Fayed.

Following Egyptian President Nassar's threats to expropropriate foreign businesses, Al-Fayed was able to take control of a small shipping company, owned by Leon Carasso, who wished to emigrate.[9] Cassaro would later claim that Al-Fayed had defaulted on the agreed payment for his business.[10] Fayed also acquired interests in other transportation companies at favourable prices. After Nasser ordered the consfication of Egyptian property in 1961, Al-Fayed transferred ownership of his Middle Eastern Navigation Company to Genoa in Italy.[11]

Haiti

On June 12, 1964, Al-Fayed arrived in Haiti, then under the control of François "Papa Doc" Duvalier. Al-Fayed entered the country on a Kuwaiti passport, and introduced himself as Sheikh Mohamed Fayed.[12][13] Shortly after his arrival, Duvalier cancelled a ten year contract with an American company that gave them monopoly control over Haiti's oil industry, and signed a similar contract with Al-Fayed, for fifty years.[12] Al-Fayed promised to use his connections in Dubai to help bring investment to the Caribbean island, if they allowed him to build an oil refinery, and develop the wharf at Port-au-Prince.[13] Al-Fayed had exclusive control over the collection of fees for unloading and docking at Haiti's main port, and this caused resentment in the shipping industry. Al-Fayed was 'tapped' for $30,000 by Duvalier, and rather than pay, and fearful of the growing anger of the shipping agents, Al-Fayed left Haiti in December 1964. Fayed later claimed that he was owed $5 million by the Haitian government, although the 1988 DTI report into Al-Fayed's background stated that "we have no doubt at all that Mohamed Fayed perpetrated a substantial deceit on the government and people of Haiti in 1964...he deprived the harbour authority of over US $100,000 of money it could ill-afford to lose" [12] Al-Fayed became a Haitian citizen in November 1964 and it was with a Haitian diplomatic passport that Fayed entered the United Kingdom later that year.[14]

Dubai

Ingratiating himself in London's Arab expatriate community, Al-Fayed met an Iraqi businessman, Salim Abu Alwan, and through Alwan was introduced to Mahdi Al Tajir.[15] Tajir was then an adviser to Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum of the United Arab Emirates. Rashid was the Emir of Dubai, and oil was soon to be discovered in Dubai, which would transform the wealth of the emirate.

Tajir informed Al-Fayed that Dubai was penniless and needed to borrow £1 million for the future construction of modern harbour facilities.[16] Al-Fayed secured a loan of £9 million from Imre Rochlitz, an American lawyer. Rochlitz's Jewish ancestry caused embarrassment to Tajir, and later caused Rochlitz to reject Al-Fayed's offer of a formal partnership.[17] Al-Fayed earned £1.5 million commission from the contract for British engineering company Costain to carry out the improvement works to the port. Al-Fayed also assisted with securing the financing for the Dubai World Trade Centre, with the banker David Douglas-Home of Morgan Grenfell managing the contract.[18] By the mid 1970s Costain had gained over £280 million of contracts thanks to Al-Fayed and Tajir, and Al-Fayed bought 20.84% of Costain's shares, and was later appointed a company director.[19]

With his earnings from commissions on various projects in Dubai, Al-Fayed bought a Rolls-Royce, a large chalet in Gstaad, and the remaining apartments of 60 Park Lane in Mayfair, where he had been living for the past few years.[20]

In 1974 Al-Fayed met Roland 'Tiny' Rowland, a British businessman with extensive interests in Southern Africa, and the chairman of international conglomorate Lonrho. Fayed's complex professional relationship with Rowland would dominate his life for the next twenty years, with legal repecussions continuing into the late 1990s.

Rowland persuaded Al-Fayed to exchange his shares in Costain for 5.5 million shares in Lonrho in March 1975, and Al-Fayed used the profit from the deal to buy another 3 million shares in Lonrho and become a director of the company.[21] Al-Fayed soon became alarmed at Rowland's use of Lonrho's money to fund his lifestyle and to pay large bribes in Africa, as well as his syphoning of company profits into a secret bank account in Switzerland.[22]

The British Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) began to investiagate Lonrho in early 1976, and an alarmed Al-Fayed quit the company in May 1976, selling his Lonrho shares to Kuwati investors and bought back his Costain shares for £11 million.[23]

Tajir's influence in Dubai was waning by 1977, and Al-Fayed was excluded from the commission process for a new aluminium smelter, and the development of Jebel Ali, putting Costain's future profits at risk.[24] Al-Fayed sold his stake in the company for £15 million in November 1977.

In 1993 Al-Fayed was visited at Harrods by Mohammed Alabbar, the director of Dubai's Department of Economic Development.[25] Alabbar had been appointed by Sheikh Maktoum to eradicate the system of large commission payments from previous decades. Tajir was challenged in the British courts to repay his alleged excessive profits earned from the construction of Dubai's aluminum smelter, and Al-Fayed was targeted over his management contract of the Dubai World Trade Centre. Al-Fayed's contract to manage the centre was later terminated by the Maktoums and Al-Fayed sued them for compensation estimated between £30 to 90 million.[26] The case came to court in October 1994, and after trying to unsucssfully settle the case with the Maktoums, Al-Fayed was due to testify on October 17. Al-Fayed's lawyer informed the court that morning that he had been taken seriously ill with neck and back complications, and could not fly to Dubai as a result.[27]

Alabbar, however, had secretly taped Al-Fayed on his way to Harrods that morning, and the tapes were shown to the court the next day. Al-Fayed's lack of ill health was evident, and Al-Fayed was informed by his lawyer of the disastrous effect that his deception had on the case that day.[28]

House of Fraser group and Harrods

Background to Harrods purchase

In 1984, Al-Fayed and his brother Ali, purchased a 30 percent stake for £138 million [13] in the House of Fraser, a group that included the Knightsbridge department store Harrods, from Roland 'Tiny' Rowland, the head of international conglomerate Lonrho.

Lonrho had been pursuing control of the House of Fraser since 1977, and was prevented from acquiring it by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission in a 1981 ruling, although Lonrho's purchase of The Observer was approved.[29]

After his purchase of the House of Fraser shares, Al-Fayed demanded that Rowland leave the board of House of Fraser,[13] and courted the chairman of House of Fraser, Professor Roland Smith, who received a retroactive bonus once Al-Fayed had acquired the company.[13] The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, John Biffen, ruled that Lonrho must give an undertaking not to buy any more shares in the House of Fraser, a ruling that left Roland "incandescent".[29] Following the ruling Rowland began to sell shares to Al-Fayed, whom he had met while Al-Fayed was briefly a director of Lonrho. Rowland later said that "I knew that Tootsie (as Rowland called Al-Fayed) could never afford to purchase the whole of House of Fraser." [29]

Al-Fayed did purchase the remaining 70 percent of the House of Fraser in early 1985 for £615 million, sparking a bitter feud between himself and Rowland. The former editor of The Observer, Donald Trelford, believes that Rowland was "...certainly motivated in his vendetta against Al-Fayed by outrage at having been conned. But he was also convinced that his shareholders had been cheated." [29] Rowland felt his shareholders had been cheated as he believed Al-Fayed had used a power of attorney that he held for the Sultan of Brunei, then the richest man in the world, to fund the purchase.[29] Rowland's bitterness also came from his belief that Al-Fayed had lied to the British government about the sources of his wealth, and that the government had failed to investigate Al-Fayed's credentials and had approved the sale without a reference to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (while Lonrho had faced three inquiries under the commission), and that the new trade secretary, Norman Tebbit, had prevented Lonrho from bidding while Al-Fayed's deal went through.[29]

Origins of wealth

To take control of the House of Fraser group, the Fayed brothers had to convince the British government that they possessed sufficient assets to securely purchase the group. The Fayeds invented a spurious family history of old money for themselves. Represented by the investment bankers Kleinwort Benson and the law firm Herbert Smith, the Fayeds' bankers submitted to the government a one and a half page summary of their assets, which the government accepted.[13] The Al-Fayed brothers claimed they were from a family of wealthy cotton traders. Their wealth was estimated by their bankers, Kleinwort Benson, to be worth "several billion dollars".[30] A press release by Kleinwort Benson stated that the Fayeds were an "old established Egyptian family who for more than 100 years were ship owners, land owners and industrialists in Egypt." The report said that they were raised in Britain and fled Egypt following the rise to power of Gamal Abdel Nasser.[13]

The DTI report, however came to very different conclusions about the scale of their wealth, stating that;

If people had known, for instance, that they only owned one luxury hotel; that their interests in oil exploration consortia were of no current value; that their banking interests consisted of less than 5 percent of the issued share capital of a bank and were worth less than $10 million; that they had no current interests in construction projects: that far from being 'leading shipowners in the liner trade' they only owned two roll-on roll-off 1600 ton cargo ferries; if all these facts had been known people would have been less disposed to believe that the Fayeds really owned the money they were using to buy HOF (House of Fraser)

—1988 DTI report into the background of the Fayed brothers

[13]

In March 1985 the Fayeds announced a formal cash offer for House of Fraser of £615 million, which Kleinwort claimed was untethered by any borrowings. There has not yet been a comprehensive account of the state of Fayeds finances in 1985, but the DTI. report claimed that by October 1984 the Fayeds had at least $600 million in the Royal Bank of Scotland and in a Swiss bank at their disposal.[13] "We were not told the source of any of these funds or given a credible story as to how and where they were obtained", said the DTI. inspectors.[13] The money the Fayeds claimed as their own was apparently used as collateral in order to guarantee a loan of more than £400 million to buy House of Fraser.[13]

Al-Fayed told Maureen Orth in an interview that "If you have a company with tremendous assets like Harrods...you have no problem. You don't need to use cash." [13] The first loan, from a Swiss bank, was replaced with another loan secured by House of Fraser shares, the Fayeds had acquired the House of Fraser with none of their own money used to purchase it.[13] The Fayeds ownership of Harrods was complete when the British government issued a press release announcing that it would not refer the Fayeds' bid to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.[13]

Roland "Tiny" Rowland

During the final stages of the Fayeds purchase of Harrods, Tiny Rowland wrote to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Norman Tebbit, repudiating the Fayeds story of the origin of their families wealth.[13] Rowland also enlisted the help of Ashraf Marwan, to aid him in his exposing of the Fayeds. The Observer newspaper, owned by Rowland, was used to attack the Fayeds. Al-Fayed issued a libel suit against The Observer, and other newspapers critical of the Fayeds were routinely threatened or issued with similar writs. All critical reporting of the Fayeds outside of the Observer was virtually stopped.[13]

1988 DTI Report

From 1985 until 1987 Rowland led a worldwide investigation into Al-Fayed and his acquisition of Harrods. He employed accountants and solicitors, private detectives and freelance journalists in an operation, said to cost many millions of pounds, that was beyond the scope of any newspaper inquiry.[29] Illicit bugging devices were used and some of the money went in bribes to officials to unearth incriminating documents in Egypt, Haiti, Dubai, Brunei, France and Switzerland, allegedly proving fraudulent dealings by Al-Fayed and showing his humble origins and limited net worth.[29]

The results of Rowlands investigations into the Fayeds were given to the Sunday newspaper The Observer, that was owned by Lonrho. The Observer campaigned for an inquiry into the House of Fraser purchase, and an inquiry by inspectors from the Department of Trade and Industry was delivered in July 1988, but the DTI declined to publish it. Rowland obtained a copy in 1989, and the report was published in a special free sixteen page edition of The Observer on a Thursday morning. Publishing the report helped put the DTI inspectors' findings into the public arena, helping The Observers libel defence, with the aim of pressuring the government into releasing the report.[29] Lawyers from the DTI produced a court injunction and ordered all copies of The Observers version of the report to be handed over or pulped. The report was officially published in 1990.[29]

The DTI report said that the Fayed brothers had 'dishonestly represented their origins, their wealth, their business interests and their resources to the Secretary of State, to the Office of Fair Trading, to the House of Fraser board and shareholders, and their own advisers' [30] Rowland and the Lohnro group had previously been strongly criticised by a 1976 DTI report, and had been described by Prime Minister Edward Heath as "an unpleasant and unacceptable face of capitalism".[31]

In 1993 the European Court of Human Rights dismissed a case brought by Al-Fayed and his brothers against the British Government, which had accused them of misrepresentation in the DTI report. They contended that the report had ruined their reputation and was not subject to appeal.[32]

Ownership of Harrods

Harrods had entered a steady decline under Hugh Fraser, yet still accounted for half of the House of Fraser groups profits. Determined to restore Harrods fortunes, Al-Fayed hired Brian Walsh as manager of House of Fraser.[33] Walsh created dvisions in the company, and more than two hundred buyers resigned in the next two years. Following arguments with Al-Fayed, Walsh was fired in October 1987. To calm staff, Al-Fayed distrbuted envolopes containing £2,000 in cash.[34] Following Walsh's departure, Fayed moved his offices onto the fifth floor of Harrods, and took a more hands-on role as chairman of the store.[35] Walsh was replaced by Michael Ellis-Jones, who was later fired after eight weeks.[36]

The Harrods Building

Christoph Bettermann became the deputy chairman of Harrods in 1990, after having worked for Al-Fayed in Dubai since 1984.[13] Bettermann was approached to work in the Emirate of Sharjah, in April 1991, and in June, Bettermann told Maureen Orth, Al-Fayed "showed me a written transcript of a phone conversation between the headhunter and me. He accused me of breaking our trust by talking to these people. I told him, 'If you don’t trust me, I resign. I cannot trust you if you bugged my phone.'" Bettermann quit his job at Harrods and went to work for an oil company in Sharjah.[13]

Al-Fayed wrote to the ruler of Sharjah, and accused Bettermann of stealing large sums of money.[13] Bettermann was cleared by three courts in which Fayed had pressed charges.[13]

Al-Fayed delighted in publicity stunts to raise the profile of the store, dressing as a Harrods doorman, a boy scout and Father Christmas over the years.[37] Celebrites were also hired to open the annual Harrods sale, and Harrods sponsored the annual Royal Windsor Horse Show as it done since 1982. In 1997 Harrods sponsorship of the horse show was terminated after Prime Minister John Major had urged the chairman of the show to find a new sponsor to save Queen Elizabeth II from association with Al-Fayed.[38]

Sculptor William Mitchell was hired by Al-Fayed to remodel the Harrods escalators in an ancient Egyptian style.[39] Mitchell also designed memorials for Dodi Fayed and Diana, Princess of Wales at Harrods. Al-Fayed claimed to have invested more than £400 million restoring Harrods, with £75 million being spent on the Egyptian escalator.[40]

In 1991 the House of Commons Trade and Industry Committee ordered the Governor of the Bank of England, Robin Leigh-Pemberton to order the Fayeds to transfer control of the Harrods Bank to trustees, after they found that the Fayeds were not "fit and proper" to run the bank.[41] Al-Fayed bought his brother, Saleh, out of his interest in Harrods for £100 million in 1994.[42] In 1994, before House of Fraser plc was relisted on the London Stock Exchange, Harrods was moved out of the group so that it could remain under the private ownership of the Al-Fayed and his family.[43]

Employee relations

Al-Fayed was concerned by the loyalty of his staff, and employed two young Greek women as spies, to report on their fellow employees.[44] The telephones of the shop workers trade union, USDAW were bugged.[44] Employees were signed to short three month contracts, and were often fired without agreed compensation, and forced to go to an industrial tribunal.[45] Al-Fayed also listened to his employees secretly recorded conversations about their sex lives.[37]

Al-Fayed would customarily fire employees who offended his idea of athestics, being most offended by overweight staff or black people.[46] To avoid hiring black people, Harrods required applicants to submit photographs.[47] The number of black people employed by Harrods was eventually half the number employed by other London stores.[47]

Francesca Bettermann, Harrods former legal counsel, said of Al-Fayed "He likes a pretty face. He wouldn't hire someone who was ugly. He liked them light-skinned, well educated, English, and young...I remember there was something on the application form that said, 'Your colour, race…' I said, "You're not allowed to put that on the form,' and he said, "Well, make sure they put proper photos in, then.'" [13] In 1994 Harrods settled five racial-discrimination cases bought against the company, and, according to trade union officials, between June and September 1994, 23 of the 28 people fired were black, who had held mostly menial jobs.[13]

A florist, Gillian Elmi, was rejected for employment by Harrods because she was black. The chairman of the subsequent industrial tribunal condemned Harrods defence as 'malicious and dishonest', stating 'there was an act of blatant racial discrimination...by a very senior personnel officer working in a very large organisation...there was lying and deceit on the part of Harrods personnel to conceal the act of discrimination. There was dishonest testimony by Harrods personnel'.[48]

Theft from Harrods safety deposit boxes

Al-Fayed, along with the director of Harrods security, John Macnamara, and four other employees, were arrested in 1998 after allegations that they had broken into Rowland's safety deposit box, stored at Harrods. Sensitive documents were stolen, along with jewellery, rare stamps and a gold cigarette case, among other items.[49] Fayed sued the Metropolitan Police in 2002 for wrongful arrest over the case, and lost, facing a £1 million legal bill.[50]

Al-Fayed later agreed a £1.4 million settlement with Rowland's widow [51]

The theft from the safety deposit boxes was later cited as one of the reasons behind the British governments refusal to grant the Fayeds citizenship in 1999.[52]

Royal warrants

In August 2010, in a letter to the Daily Telegraph, Al-Fayed revealed that he had burnt Harrods royal warrants, after taking them down in 2000. Harrods had held the Royal warrants since 1910. Describing the warrants as a "curse", Al-Fayed claimed that business had tripled since their removal. The Duke of Edinburgh removed his warrant in January 2000,[53] the other warrants were removed from Harrods by Al-Fayed in December, pending their five yearly review. The Duke of Edinburgh had been banned from Harrods by Al-Fayed.[54] Film of the burning of the warrants in 2009 was shown in the final scene of Unlawful Killing a film funded by Al-Fayed and directed by Keith Allen.[53]

Sale of Harrods

Following denials that it was for sale, Harrods was sold to Qatar Holdings, the sovereign wealth fund of the emirate of Qatar in May 2010. A fortnight previously, Al-Fayed had stated that "People approach us from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar. Fair enough. But I put two fingers up to them. It is not for sale. This is not Marks and Spencer or Sainsbury's. It is a special place that gives people pleasure. There is only one Mecca."[55]

A spokesman for Al-Fayed said "in reaching the decision to retire, (Al-Fayed) wished to ensure that the legacy and traditions that he has built up in Harrods would be continued." Harrods was sold for £1.5 billion; half of the sale will be used to pay bank debts of £625 million.[56]

Al-Fayed later revealed that he decided to sell Harrods following the difficulty in getting his dividend approved by the trustee of the Harrods pension fund. Fayed said "I'm here every day, I can't take my profit because I have to take a permission of those bloody idiots...I say is this right? Is this logic? Somebody like me? I run a business and I need to take bloody fucking trustee's permission to take my profit".[57] Fayed was appointed honorary chairman of Harrods, a position he will hold for at least six months.[57]

Current businesses

Hôtel Ritz Paris and the 'Villa Windsor'

Hôtel Ritz Paris

In March 1979, Al-Fayed and his brother, Saleh, bought the Hôtel Ritz Paris for £9 million.[58] The Ritz-Escoffier School of French Gastronomy was added to the hotel in 1988, and an underground swimming pool and nightclub have since been added during their extensive refurbishment of the Ritz. Al-Fayed has incured considerable debt during his ownership of the hotel, in 1993 his losses on the Ritz were estimated at $120 million,[13] and in 2010, an RBS loan of £90 million on the hotel was due to paid, having had payment delayed from the previous November. [59] For Al-Fayed's efforts in restoring the Ritz he was awarded the 'Medaille de Paris' and made a Chevalier in the Légion d'honneur by the French government.

In 1986 Al-Fayed signed a fifty year lease with the city of Paris to rent the former home of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, at 4 rue du Champ d'Entraînement, on the Neuilly-sur-Seine side of the Bois de Boulogne. The house is sometimes unofficially called the 'Villa Windsor'.

Following Edward VIII's abdication as King of the United Kingdom in 1936, he was created the Duke of Windsor, and lived in the house in Paris with his wife, Wallis, from 1952 until his death in 1972. When Wallis died in 1986, the house was returned to the ownership of the French state, and leased to Al-Fayed later that year. In July 1997 it was announced that an auction of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor's possessions from the 'Villa Windsor' would take place later that year in New York. Fayed had purchased the possessions for $4.5 million from the beneficiary of the Duchess' estate, the Pasteur Institute.[60]

The executor of the Duchess' estate claimed that Al-Fayed tried to purchase the Duchess' jewels for a "rock bottom price", they were later sold at auction in 1987 for $50.5 million.[61]

Auction catalogues were secretly prepeared, and the British Royal family was said to be distressed, with the auction threatening to over shadow the fiftieth birthday of Charles, Prince of Wales. The items offered for auction had immense personal value for the Royals, with items including the desk from which Edward abdicated in 1936, a collection of 10,000 photographs, and a doll given to Edward by his mother, Queen Mary. The auction was later postponed following the death of Al-Fayed's son, Dodi and Diana, Princess of Wales. Fayed claimed that Dodi and Diana had visited the house on the day of their death, but this was untrue.[60]

The auction eventually took place in February 1998 at Sotheby's New York, with more than 40,000 items for sale, collected into 3,200 lots. The proceeds from the auction were donated to the Dodi Fayed International Charitable Foundation and causes associated with the late Princess of Wales.[60] The British Royal family was believed to have purchased items in the sale.[62] Al-Fayed extensively refurbished and restored the 'Villa Windsor', and for his efforts was promoted to an Officier in the Légion d'honneur in 1989.

Fulham F.C.

Main article: Fulham F.C. § 1997–2001: Al Fayed takeover

Al-Fayed bought the freehold of West London professional football club Fulham F.C. for £6.25 million in 1997.[63] The club was purchased via Bill Muddyman's Muddyman Group.[63] His long-term aim was that Fulham would become a FA Premier League side within five years. In 2001, Fulham took the First Division (now Football League Championship) under manager Jean Tigana, winning 100 points and scoring over 100 goals in the season. This meant that Al-Fayed had achieved his objective of Fulham being a Premiership club a year ahead of schedule. By 2002, Fulham were competing in European football, winning the Intertoto Cup and challenging in the UEFA Cup. Fulham have since continued to play in the Premiership, and reached the final of the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League.

Fulham temporarily left Craven Cottage whilst it was being upgraded to meet modern safety standards. There were fears that Fulham would not return to the Cottage, after it was revealed that Al-Fayed had sold the first right to build on the ground to a property development firm.[64]

Fulham lost a legal case against former manager Tigana in 2004 after Al-Fayed had wrongly alleged that Tigana had overpaid more than £7m for new players and had negotiated transfers in secret.[65] In May 2007 Al-Fayed said he was interested in helping Scottish football team Ross County, following their relegation.[66]

In 2009 Al-Fayed revealed that he is in favour of a wage cap for footballers, and criticised the management of The Football Association and Premier League as "run by donkeys who don't understand business, who are dazzled by money." [67]

A statue of Michael Jackson was unvieled by Al-Fayed in April 2011 at Fulham's Craven Cottage stadium. In 1999 Jackson had attended a league game against Wigan Athletic F.C. at the stadium. Following criticisms of the statue, Al-Fayed said "If some stupid fans don't understand and appreciate such a gift this guy gave to the world they can go to hell. I don't want them to be fans."[68]

Fulham F.C. is owned by Mafco Holdings, based in the tax haven of Bermuda. Mafco Holdings is owned by Al-Fayed and his family. By 2011, Al-Fayed had loaned Fulham F.C. £187 million in interest free loans.[69]

Relationship with the Sultan of Brunei

Al-Fayed told Maureen Orth that he had known Hassanal Bolkiah, the 29th Sultan of Brunei since the sultan's childhood and that they had become acquainted during the building of a trade centre in Brunei.[13] Tiny Rowland told DTI inspectors that Al-Fayed had told him that he negotiated an introduction to the sultan for $500,000 plus a percentage of any resulting business with an Indian holy man and alleged fraudster, Shri Chandra Swamiji Maharaj.[13] Rowland later admitted this account was untrue.[70]

In the summer of 1984 Al-Fayed received several powers of attorney and written authorizations from the sultan to carry out tasks for him. These powers of attorney gave Al-Fayed legal access to large sums of the sultan's money. The sultan was then the richest man in the world.[13] During this period, the bank of the three Fayed brothers, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), received a sudden transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars from Switzerland into their accounts.[13] RBS assumed that the money belonged to the sultan, but Al-Fayed told the bank that his portfolio was separate from the sultan's. The DTI report noted that "It may be no more than coincidence that this vast increase in disposable wealth followed quickly on the admission of Mohamed to the sultan's confidence...It is, however, a very powerful coincidence." [13]

Using a power of attorney, Al-Fayed purchased the Dorchester Hotel for the sultan in 1985.[13] Al-Fayed accompanied the sultan to 10 Downing Street to visit Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in January 1985, with the British pound in drastic decline, and threatening the economy [13] the sultan, who had moved £5 billion ($5.6 billion) of assets out of pounds sterling, moved the assets back into sterling. Al-Fayed took credit for this assist and also for persuading the sultan to give half a billion pounds of contracts to British defence industries.[13]

Other business ventures

Allied Stars

In the late 1970s Al-Fayed created a film production company, Allied Stars, and appointed his son, Dodi Fayed as the chief executive.[71] Allied Star's first production was the 1980 musical Breaking Glass, which flopped, costing Al-Fayed £50,000. The next production backed by Allied Stars was the drama Chariots of Fire, in which Al-Fayed invested £3 million and purchased a 25% stake in the film.[72] Dodi Fayed was barred from the set of Chariots of Fire by the director, David Putnam, after he distributed cocaine to the cast.[72] Before the completion of the film, Al-Fayed sold his stake for a share of the profits if the film succeeded.[73] The film was a huge success and earned Allied Stars $6 million.

Dodi's profligacy following the success of Chariots of Fire irriated his father, and Mohamed Al-Fayed froze his financial support to his son.[73]

Keith Allen's 2011 documentary on the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, Unlawful Killing was funded by Al-Fayed at a cost of £2.5 million, and produced by Allied Stars.

International Marine Services

Fayed resumed his interests in shipping in 1983 with the purchase of International Marine Services (IMS), a German company with large debts. IMS was purchased by Al-Fayed for $1 after Tiny Rowland had declined to buy the company.[74] IMS would prove to be a financial success, earning Al-Fayed profits of $21 million following the need for salvage ships during the Iran-Iraq war.[74]

Modena Cars

In the late 1980s, at the behest of Dodi, Al-Fayed bought Modena Cars, a second hand Ferrari dealership based at Horley in Surrey. Fayed borrowed £7 million against IMS's assets and future earnings over the next three years to purchase the company, but found that £2 million had been removed from the company by a former director.[75] Al-Fayed was furious at having bought a potentially worthless company, and punished Dodi by cancelling his credit cards. Fayed also held the finance director of the House of Fraser responsible for the deal and falsely accused him of taking bribes.[76]

Nationality

Al-Fayed was born an Egyptian citizen, entered Haiti on a Kuwaiti passport, and left Haiti with a Haitian diplomatic passport with which he entered the United Kingdom in 1964.

In 1970 Al-Fayed informed Mahdi Al Tajir that his and his brothers Haitian diplomatic passports had expired, and their Egyptian passports made it difficult for them to obtain visas in many countries.[77] Tajir secured Dubaian passports for Al-Fayed, but not Dubaian nationality.[77] On the passport documents Al-Fayed had his date of birth changed from 1929 to 1933, making himself four years younger, and added the prefix "Al-" to his last name, which was said to have afforded him importance in the Arab world.[77] His two brothers reduced their ages by ten years on their new passports.[77] Max Hastings, former editor of the Daily Telegraph, wrote that Al-Fayed had "harried" Conrad Black, former owner of the Daily Telegraph, "in pursuit of his demand to be referred to in our newspaper as "Al Fayed". I sent the chairman a note, explaining that this was a long-running saga: "The Fayeds have been seeking for years to call themselves Al Fayed, just as a socially ambitious Frenchman might seek to style himself de Fayed, or a German von Fayed ... At one level, it is harmless if the Fayeds wish to call themselves kings of Sheba, but I always feel determined to demonstrate that we will not be threatened." [78]

Fayed's adding of Al- to his surname earned the nickname "the Phoney Pharaoh" from Private Eye magazine.[79]

The rulers of Dubai, the Al Maktoum family, had refused to renew the Fayeds passports in 1993, and so they reverted to travelling on their original Egyptian passports. Mohamed and Ali Fayed applied for British citizenship in early 1993. Ali's application was supported by Gordon Reece and Peter Hordern, and Mohamed's by Lord Bramall and Jeffrey Archer.[80] The Fayed brothers application for British citizenship was rejected in December 1993, on the basis that the DTI report disqualified them from citizenship.[81] Michael Howard, the Conservative home secretary, asked for the decision to be reviewed, fearing renewed embarrassment over his connections wth alleged fraudster Harry Landy, which surfaced during the DTI investgation.[81] The application was rejected again, and in 1996 the High court declared that the home secretary could not deny, without explanation, the Fayeds citizenship requests.[82] The Home Office later abandoned its appeal to the House of Lords against the High courts decision.[83]

In 1997 Jack Straw, the home secretary in the new Labour government, reconsidered the Fayeds citizenship request,[84] but rejected the request in May 1999.[85]

The rejection was attributed to Al-Fayed's admittance that he bribed politicians and his breaking into safety deposit boxes in Harrods.[52] Al-Fayed described the decision as "perverse" and said he was a victim of the British establishment and "zombie" politicians.[52]

Tax status

In 1989 Al-Fayed announced that despite living in the United Kingdom since 1964, he had not been 'domiciled' in the country, a status which requires a minimum stay of 180 days.[86] A settlement on his global taxes was negotiated with the Inland Revenue, with Al-Fayed, his brothers and Dodi paying £20 million in past taxes. To limit British income tax, the dividends from Harrods would be paid to an offshore company based in the tax haven of Liechtenstein; this company was itself a subsidiary of two other companes, based in Panama and the British Virgin Islands, also tax havens.[86]

Following a ruling by Scottish courts in 2002, Al-Fayed lost a legal battle to retain his special tax status that had dated from 1997. The Inland Revenue had agreed a deal with Al-Fayed whereby he would pay £240,000 per year for five years. The agreement avoided an expensive investigation of Al-Fayed's foreign income, and Al-Fayed was able to bring as much cash into the UK as he wished. The agreement was abandoned by the Inland Revenue following the Neil Hamiltion libel case in 1999, in which Al-Fayed admitted he had access to large sums of cash and employees received cash presents.[87][88]

Less than a year later, Al-Fayed announced that he was leaving the UK for Switzerland,[87] announcing that "The grossly unfair treatment finally convinced me that, for the sake of my family, the time has come to leave. I am leaving with a heavy heart."[88] In a 2004 interview with CNN Al-Fayed revealed that he had left the UK after his tax arrangement was cancelled.[89] Al-Fayed later returned to the United Kingdom.

The Fayed family collected £368m in dividends from Harrods between 1999–2009, with the money paid into a holding company, which filtered into a web of sister companies ultimately based in the tax haven of Bermuda.[90]

Property

Al-Fayed owns 60 and 55 Park Lane, and a building on South Street, Mayfair. All three buildings are secretly connected to the Dorchester Hotel, which Al-Fayed purchased for Hassanal Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei.[13]

In 1995 Westminster City Council believed that Hyde Park Residences, the company letting 170 luxury flats at 55 and 60 Park Lane, had been wrongly reporting the flats as let on long leases to avoid paying higher business rates due on short tenancies.[91] The council imposed a demand for an additional £1.1 million, and Al-Fayed believed that the letting agent, Sandra Lewis-Glass had betrayed his confidence to the council.[91] After bugging Lewis-Glass' telephone calls and placing her under survelliance, John Mcnamara, the head of Al-Fayed's security and a former Metropolitan Police officer, alleged to police that Lewis-Glass had stolen two floppy disks worth 80 pence.[92] Denying the false accusation, Lewis-Glass was released without charge, and later sued for wrongful dismissal, winning £13,500.[93]

In the early 1970s Al-Fayed purchased the Castle Ste-Thérèse in the Parc de St Tropez on the French Riviera,[94] a chalet in Gstaad, Switzerland,[20] and Barrow Green Court and farm, near Oxted, Surrey.[94]

In Bocardo SA v Star Energy UK the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom denied Al-Fayed compensation after an energy company, Star Energy, had drilled for oil under his Surrey estate. Al-Fayed originally won a share of the oil proceeds at the High Court, but was later told by appeal judges he could only claim damages.[95] Bocardo SA is a company owned by Al-Fayed that owns his estates in Scotland and Surrey, it is based in the tax haven of Liechtenstein.[96]

Scotland

In 1972, Fayed purchased the Balnagowan estate [1] in Easter Ross, Ross, Northern Scotland. From an initial twelve acres, Al-Fayed has since built the estate up to sixty five thousand acres.[97] Al-Fayed has invested more than £20 million in the estate, restored the 14th century pink Balnagowan castle, and created a tourist accommodation business.[97] The Highlands of Scotland tourist board awarded Al-Fayed the "Freedom of the Highlands" in 2002, in recognition of his "outstanding contribution and comittment to the highlands".

As an Egyptian with links to Scotland, Al-Fayed was intrigued enough to fund a 2008 reprint of the 15th century chronicle Scotichronicon by Walter Bower. The Scotichronicon describes how Scota, a sister of the Egyptian Pharoh Tutankhamen, fled her family and landed in Scotland, bringing with her the Stone of Scone. According to the chronicle, Scotland was later named in her honour. The tale is disputed by modern historians.[98] Al-Fayed later declared that "The Scots are originally Egyptians and that's the truth" [99]

In 2009 Al-Fayed revealed that he was a supporter of Scottish independence from the United Kingdom, announcing to the Scots that "It's time for you to waken up and detach yourselves from the English and their terrible politicians...whatever help is needed for Scotland to regain its independence, I will provide it...when you Scots regain your freedom, I am ready to be your president" [99]

Media interests

In 1996 Al-Fayed established Liberty Publishing, with the goal of the company "to launch and acquire or take strategic interests in significant media businesses".[100]

The chairman of Liberty Publishing was Stewart Steven, the former editor of the Evening Standard, with John Dux the chief executive, a former managing director of News International.[100]

Al-Fayed had failed in bids to buy the newspaper Today from Lonrho in 1986 and from News International in 1995. Al-Fayed believed that the British government had put pressure on Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News International not to sell the newspaper to him.[101] Andrew Neil was recruited by Liberty Publishing, and helped agree a £4 million takeover of London News Radio. The takeover later collapsed.[101]

Steven dined with Hugo Young, chairman of the Scott Trust at the Garrick Club, and offered a cheque for £17 million from Al-Fayed for The Observer newspaper. Young declined this offer, and another of £25 million.[102] A women-only radio station, Viva Radio, was bought for £3 million in May 1996.[102] Viva Radio was renamed Liberty Radio, and broadcast commentaries of Fulham F.C.'s home and away games. The station was sold to UCKG in 2000. Due to debts of £6.5 million, Liberty Publishing was wound down by Al-Fayed's brother, Ali, in 1996. Steven, Dux and Mike Hollingsworth were fired, but Andrew Neil was retained as a consultant.[103]

Since 1989 Al-Fayed has been publicly represented by public relations expert and former BBC journalist Michael Cole.

Punch relaunch

In 1996 Al-Fayed bought the rights to the historic British humorous magazine Punch, and it was relaunched later that year, at a cost of £3 million, under new editor Peter McKay.[104] Punch had previously been published from 1841 to 1992. The relaunch was not successful, with Punch failing to match its satirical competitor, Private Eye. Punch folded for a second time in 2002.[105]

The People's Trust

In January 1997 Al-Fayed established a new political organisation to promote a crusade against a "culture of violence". The establishment of the trust followed Al-Fayed's support for anti-abortion candidates and the Christian Democrat, the newspaper of the Movement for Christian Democracy.[106] The People's Trust planned to write to all candidates in the 1997 United Kingdom general election in order to identify a group of MPs who put "their consciences, their constituents and their country at the heart of their politics, rather than their party" [106] The People's Trust was dissolved in September 1998 after failing to file its accounts.[107]

Cash for Questions affair

Main article: Cash-for-questions affair

By 1985 Tiny Rowlands attacks on Al-Fayed had extended to the House of Commons, where Members of Parliament (MP's) sympathetic to his cause tabled questions critical of Al-Fayed and sent detailed anti-Fayed submissions to ministers.[108] Fayed was exasperated by the inaction of Peter Hordern, who as the House of Frasers parliamentary consultant was paid £40,000 a year, yet never asked a question helping Al-Fayed or attacked his enemies in parliament.[109] In conversation with Al-Fayed, the chairman of British Airways, Lord King, suggested that Al-Fayed use the services of lobbyist Ian Greer of Ian Greer Associates, who lobbied in parliament on behalf of such companies as British Airways, British Gas, Cadbury Schweppes, Asda and Phillip Morris.[109]

Al-Fayed met Greer in his Park Lane apartment in October 1985, and agreed to hire Greer for an annual fee of £25,000 [110] Less than two days later Greer wrote to Al-Fayed to tell him that he had spoken to Conservative MP Neil Hamilton, who had agreed to table a parliamentary question on Al-Fayed's behalf. Greer later helped facilitate introductions to Al-Fayed with Conservative MP's such as Gerry Malone, Michael Grylls, Tim Smith and Andrew Bowden.

These MPs tabled parliamentary questions, submitted Early Day Motions and lobbied ministers on Fayed's behalf.[111]

Al-Fayed's payments to Ian Greer Associates, were given to forty mostly Conservative MPs for election expenses. Al-Fayed also funded Hamilton's stay at the Ritz Hotel in Paris in September 1987. Fayed also revealed that the cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken had stayed for free at the Ritz at the same time as a group of Saudi arms dealers. This claim lead to Aitken's subsequent unsuccessful libel case and imprisonment for perjury.[112]

In September 1994, Al-Fayed summoned Brian Hitchen, then editor of the Sunday Express, to his office and told him the of the cash for questions. He specifically named Hamilton and Smith as recipients of payments.[113]

Hitchen alerted Prime Minister John Major to the allegations,[113] and Major established an inquiry headed by Robin Butler.[113] In October, shortly before Butler's inquiry was published, the Guardian, which had also been alerted by Al-Fayed, ran a story about cash for questions involving MP's Smith and Hamilton. [2]

Hamilton and Greer launched a libel action against the Guardian, but just before it was due to reach court in October 1996, they withdrew it.[113]

The matter was referred to the Standards and Privileges Committee chaired by Gordon Downey, along with the behaviour of two Conservative ministers, David Willetts and Andrew Mitchell. Mitchell was cleared, but Willetts resigned as Paymaster General after the committee found he had "dissembled". Downey was expected to present his findings just before the election, but Major's decision to prorogue Parliament prevented publication.[113] In July 1997 Downey's Standards and Privileges Committee published its report on the affair. [3]

The fall-out of the cash-for-questions-affair was seen as one of the key reason for the heavy Conservative defeat in the 1997 general election.

Hamilton libel case

Following accusations made by Al-Fayed in a 1997 Channel 4 documentary, Hamilton bought a libel case against Al-Fayed, which he lost in 1999. Fayed's testimony in the five week trial was described by the judge, Justice Morland, as "inconsistent, confused and unreliable" and warned the jury not to accept it unless it could be independently corroborated.[114][115] The trial led to Hamilton's bankruptcy. Al-Fayed later failed in a bid to claim costs for the trial from Hamilton's financial backers.[85]

Media portrayals

After Vanity Fair published Maureen Orth's article Holy War at Harrods. [4] Fayed sued the American magazine for libel in September 1995 but withdrew his suit in 1997. Fayed invited Tom Bower to write his biography in 1996. Bower's biography, Fayed was published in 1998. Fayed announced his intention to sue, but withdrew his suit.

Orth and Bower were both attempted victims of entrapment by Al-Fayed, with Al-Fayed's staff offering allegedly stolen documents to the writers.[116]

Personal life

Fayed was married to Samira Kashoggi the sister of Fayed's early business partner, the Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi from 1954 to 1956. Fayed had a son by Kashoggi, Dodi Fayed.[13] In 1985, Fayed married for a second time, to former Finnish model Heini Wathén, with whom he has four children, Jasmine, Karim, Camila, and Omar, and three grandchildren.[117]

In May 2002 the British newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, falsely accused Al-Fayed of having links to a uranium smuggling ring, and linked his name with Osama bin Laden, leader of terrorist group al-Qaeda. Following these allegations the newspaper made a subsantial donation to the Dodi Al Fayed Charitable Foundation, and gave Al-Fayed right of reply in the newspaper.[118]

Al-Fayed appeared on an episode of Da Ali G Show in 2000, and the Howard Stern Show in 2007. Al-Fayed appeared on the 2011 edition of British Celebrity Big Brother and set the housemates a task based on dressing up as ancient Egyptian mummies.[119]

Al-Fayed's yacht, the Sokar (formally the Jonikal) is moored in Monaco.

Accusations of sexual assault and harrassment

Al-Fayed has been accused by several women of sexual harassment and assault.[120][121]

Attractive young women applying for employment at Harrods were often submitted to HIV tests and gynacological examinations.[122] These women were then selected to spend the weekend with Al-Fayed in Paris.[123] In her profile of Al-Fayed for Vanity Fair, Maureen Orth described how according to former employees "Fayed regularly walked the store on the lookout for young, attractive women to work in his office. Those who rebuffed him would often be subjected to crude, humiliating comments about their appearance or dress...A dozen ex-employees I spoke with said that Fayed would chase secretaries around the office and sometimes try to stuff money down women's blouses" [13]

In 1994, Hermina Da Silva quit her job as a nanny at Al-Fayed's home in Oxted. Da Silva had prepared accusations that she was sexually harassed by Al-Fayed,[120] and she was subsequently arrested by detectives and held overnight in cells following a complaint of theft by an employee of Al-Fayeds. She was later released without charge after officers concluded she had not stolen anything. Al-Fayed eventually settled with her out of court, and she was awarded £12,000.[120]

Al-Fayed was interviewed under caution by the Metropolitan Police after an allegation of sexual assault against a 15-year-old schoolgirl in October 2008. The case was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service, after they found that there was no realistic chance of conviction due to conflicting statements.[124]

In December 1997 the ITV current affairs programme, The Big Story broadcast testimonies from a number of former Harrods employees who spoke of how women were routinely sexually harassed by Al-Fayed.[125]

Princess Diana

Main article: Death of Diana, Princess of Wales

Diana Spencer was born in 1961, and married the heir to the British throne, Charles, Prince of Wales in 1981, becoming the Princess of Wales. Diana was an international celebrity and a frequent visitor to Harrods in the 1980s. Al-Fayed and Dodi first met Diana and Charles when they were introduced at a polo tournament in July 1986, that had been sponsored by Harrods.[126] Diana and Charles divorced in 1995. After turning down Al-Fayed's invitation to holiday in his homes in Gstaad, Scotland and St Tropez, Diana agreed to be hosted by Al-Fayed in the south of France in the summer of 1997, with her two sons, the Princes William and Harry.[127] For the holiday, Fayed bought a 195 ft yacht, the Jonikal (later renamed the Sokar).[128]

In July 1997, Dodi had been engaged for eight months to Kelly Fisher, an American model, and was due to be married on August 9 in Los Angeles. Al-Fayed had purchased a $7.3 million house in Malibu for Dodi and Fisher.[129]

On 31 July, Dodi and Diana began a private cruise on the Jonikal, paparazzi photographs of the couple in an embrace were published on 10 August, Diana's friend, the journalist Richard Kay, confirmed that Diana was involved in "her first serious romance" since her divorce [130] Contacting Al-Fayed on 7 August to discuss her wedding, Kelly Fisher was told by Al-Fayed never to call again. Publicist Max Clifford advised Fayed's spokesman Michael Cole that Dodi's romance with Diana should be portrayed as genuine, and Fisher should be labelled a "bimbo".[131]

Fisher held a press conference on 15 August 1997 to announce that she was filing a breach of contract suit against Dodi Fayed, and claimed that he had "led her emotionally all the way up to the altar and abandoned her when they were almost there. He threw her love away in a callous way with no regard for her whatsoever".[132]

Dodi and Diana went on a second private cruise on the Jonikal in the third week of August, and returned from Sardina to Paris on the 30 August. The couple privately dined at the Ritz later that day, after the aggressive behaviour of the paparazzi caused them to cancel a restaurant reservation, they then planned to spend the night at Dodi's apartment near the Arc de Triomphe. In an attempt to deceive the paparazzi, a decoy car left the front of the hotel, while Diana and Dodi departed at speed in a Mercedes-Benz W140 driven by chauffeur Henri Paul from the rear of the hotel. Four minutes later, the car crashed in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel, killing Paul and Dodi. Diana died later in the hospital. Al-Fayed arrived in Paris the next day, and viewed Dodi's body, which was returned to Britain for an Islamic funeral.

Conspiracy theories
Main article: Death of Diana, Princess of Wales conspiracy theories

In February 1998, Al-Fayed claimed that the crash was a result of a conspiracy,[133] and later contended that the crash was orchestrated by MI6 on the instructions of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.[134]

His claims that the crash was a result of a conspiracy were dismissed by a French judicial investigation and by Operation Paget, a Metropolitan police inquiry that concluded in 2006.[135]

An inquest headed by Lord Justice Scott Baker into the deaths of Diana and Dodi began at the Royal Courts of Justice, London, on 2 October 2007 and was a continuation of the original inquest that began in 2004.[136] On 7 April 2008, the jury released an official statement that Diana and Dodi were unlawfully killed by the grossly negligent driving of chauffeur Henri Paul and the paparazzi.[137]

During the Baker inquest, lawyers representing Al-Fayed accepted that there was no direct evidence that either the Duke of Edinburgh or MI6, had been involved in any murder conspiracy involving Diana or Dodi.[138]

Al-Fayed's barrister, Michael Mansfield, told the inquest that the Fiat Uno was not the cause of any loss of control by the Mercedes.[138] Lawyers for Al-Fayed also accepted that there was no evidence to support the assertion that Diana was illegally embalmed in order to cover up a pregnancy, a "pregnancy" which they accepted, could not be established by any medical evidence.[138] they also accepted that there was no evidence to support the assertion the French emergency and medical services had played any role in a conspiracy to harm Diana.[138]

Following the Baker inquest, Al-Fayed said that he was abandoning his campaign to prove that Diana and Dodi were murdered in a conspiracy, and said that he would accept the jury's verdict of unlawful killing due to the "gross negligence" of driver Henri Paul and the paparazzi.[139]

Philanthropy

Al-Fayed established the Al-Fayed Charitable Foundation (Charity Commission [140] number 297114) in 1987. The foundation aims to help children with life-limiting conditions and children living in poverty. [5]

The New School at West Heath

In September 1997, West Heath School in Sevenoaks, Kent, United Kingdom, was placed into receivership. West Heath was the former school of Diana, Princess of Wales, and was an independent girls school. Al-Fayed purchased the school for £2.3 million and it became the new premises for the Beth Marie Centre for Traumatised Children, which had previously been based in Sevenoaks. The school reopened as The New School at West Heath in September 1998.[141] Al-Fayed has since continued to donate to the school.

References

Footnotes
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  4. ^ Bower 1998, p. 9.
  5. ^ Bower 1998, p.9.
  6. ^ Bower 1998, p. 13.
  7. ^ Bower 1998, p. 14.
  8. ^ Bower 1998, p.18.
  9. ^ Bower 1998, p. 16.
  10. ^ Bower 1998, p. 17.
  11. ^ Bower 1998, p. 19.
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  15. ^ Bower 1998, p.27.
  16. ^ Bower 1998, p.31.
  17. ^ Bower 1998, p.33.
  18. ^ Bower 1998, p.36.
  19. ^ Bower 1998, p.50.
  20. ^ a b Bower 1998, p.39.
  21. ^ Bower 1998, p.55.
  22. ^ Bower 1998, p.56.
  23. ^ Bower 1998, p.57.
  24. ^ Bower 1998, p.71.
  25. ^ Bower 1998, p.302.
  26. ^ Bower 1998, p.342.
  27. ^ Bower 1998, p.343.
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  74. ^ a b Bower 1998, p.75.
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  82. ^ Bower 1998, p.399.
  83. ^ Bower 1998, p.449.
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  86. ^ a b Bower 1998, p.250.
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  88. ^ a b McSmith, Andy; Morrison, James (30 March 2003). "Mohamed al-Fayed leaves UK 'with a heavy heart' (and best wishes from the Hamiltons)". The Independent. London.
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  92. ^ Bower 1998, p.369.
  93. ^ Bower 1998, p.386.
  94. ^ a b Bower 1998, p.43.
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  104. ^ Peachey, Paul (30 May 2002). "Loss-making 'Punch' magazine closes for the second time". The Independent. London.
  105. ^ BBC News Online (30 May 2002). "Punch magazine to fold".
  106. ^ a b Rentoul, John (13 January 1997). "Fayed funds new political crusade". London: The Independent.
  107. ^ Abrams, Fran (21 September 1998). "Fayed's clean-up trust is dissolved". London: The Independent.
  108. ^ Bower 1998, p. 146.
  109. ^ a b Bower 1998, p.147.
  110. ^ Bower 1998, p.148.
  111. ^ Wilson, Jamie; Wells, Matt (22 December 1999). "Seeking the truth behind the sleaze". The Guardian. London.
  112. ^ "Profile: Mohamed al-Fayed". BBC News Online. 21 December 1999.
  113. ^ a b c d e "The Sleaze Report: Scandal that changed the face of Politics". The Independent. London. 4 July 1997.
  114. ^ Wells, Matt (18 December 1999). "Judge calls Fayed's evidence unreliable". The Guardian. London.
  115. ^ Sengupta, Kim (22 December 1999). "The Hamilton Affair: Fayed demolishes Hamilton in the sleaze trial of the century". The Independent. London.
  116. ^ Bower 1998, p.xii.
  117. ^ "Why has Mohamed Fayed's daughter been invited to Diana's memorial service?". London: The Daily Mail. 27 July 2007.
  118. ^ Byrne, Ciar (6 January 2003). "Sunday Telegraph apologises to Fayed". The Guardian. London.
  119. ^ "Mohamed Al-Fayed sets Big Brother Egyptian task". Digital Spy. 20 August 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  120. ^ a b c Porter, Henry (24 October 1998). "Crossing swords with Mohamed". London: The Guardian.
  121. ^ Porter, Henry (20 December 1997). "Al Fayed Accused: Harrods boss rejects charges of lechery and bugging". London: The Independent.
  122. ^ Bower 1998, p. 271.
  123. ^ Bower 1998, p. 272.
  124. ^ "No Sex Charges for Harrods Owner". BBC News Online. 17 February 2009.
  125. ^ Boggan, Steve (20 December 1997). "Al Fayed Accused: Harrods boss rejects charges of lechery and bugging". London: The Independent.
  126. ^ Bower 1998, p.160.
  127. ^ Bower 1998, p.411.
  128. ^ Bower 1998, p.413.
  129. ^ Bower 1998, p.415.
  130. ^ Bower 1998, p.420.
  131. ^ Bower 1998, p.421.
  132. ^ Watson-Smyth, Kate (15 August 1997). "Model claims Fayed jilted her for Diana". The Independent. London.
  133. ^ "Diana crash was a conspiracy – Al Fayed". BBC News Online. 12 February 1998.
  134. ^ "Point-by-point: Al Fayed's claims". BBC News Online. 19 February 1998.
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  136. ^ "Inquests into the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Mr. Dodi Al Fayed: FAQs". Coroner's Inquests into the Deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Mr. Dodi Al Fayed. Judicial Communications Office. 2008. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
  137. ^ "Hearing transcripts: 7 April 2008 – Verdict of the jury". Judicial Communications Office. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  138. ^ a b c d Witchell, Nicholas (7 April 2008). "Fayed conspiracy claim collapses". BBC News Online.
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  141. ^ "Special needs boy fights school move". The Independent. 12 September 2003.
Additional notes
  1. ^ Tom Bower and the BBC state that the "Al-" prefix was added in the 1970s.
  2. ^ Al-Fayed's biographer, Tom Bower and the 1988 DTI report assert that Al-Fayed was born in 1929. Al-Fayed says that he was born in 1933.
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