74-465: Schofields can refer to Schofields (department store) , a defunct department store in Leeds, England Schofields, New South Wales , a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia RAAF Station Schofields , a former Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military air base See also [ edit ] Schofield (disambiguation) Topics referred to by
148-477: A bitter feud between him 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." 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
222-557: A formal partnership. Al-Fayed earned £1.5 million commission from the contract for British engineering company Costain to carry out the work to the port. Al-Fayed also assisted in securing finance for the Dubai World Trade Centre . The banker David Douglas-Home of Morgan Grenfell was responsible for managing the contract. 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. He
296-577: A former Debenhams department store, named Cresta House, on James Street), Skipton (an acquisition of the former Ledgard & Wynn department store) (closed 1986) and Sheffield (a 1972 acquisition of the Cockaynes department store on Angel Street ). The Sheffield store closed in 1982 and now trades as Argos on the ground floor with offices on the upper floors and the Harrogate branch now trades as Hoopers . The only visible evidence pointing to
370-635: A group of MPs who put "their consciences, their constituents and their country at the heart of their politics, rather than their party" The People's Trust was dissolved in September 1998 after failing to file its accounts. After Vanity Fair published Maureen Orth 's article " Holy War at Harrods ", Al-Fayed sued the American magazine for libel in September 1995 but withdrew his suit in 1997. Al-Fayed invited Tom Bower to write his biography in 1996. Bower's biography, Fayed: The Unauthorized Biography
444-581: A group that included the London store Harrods , from Rowland. In 1985, he and his brothers bought the remaining 70% of House of Fraser for £615m. Rowland claimed that the Fayed brothers lied about their background and wealth, and he put pressure on the government to investigate them. A Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) inquiry into the Fayeds was launched. The DTI's subsequent report was critical, but no action
518-530: A new political organisation, The People's Trust, to promote a crusade against a "culture of violence". The establishment of The People's Trust followed Al-Fayed's support for anti-abortion candidates and the Christian Democrat, the newspaper of the Movement for Christian Democracy. The People's Trust planned to write to all candidates in the 1997 United Kingdom general election in order to identify
592-579: A secret bank account in Switzerland. The British Department of Trade and Industry began to investigate Lonrho in early 1976, and an alarmed Al-Fayed quit the company in May 1976. He sold his Lonrho shares to Kuwaiti investors and bought back his Costain shares for £11 million. Tajir's influence in Dubai was waning by 1977, and Al-Fayed was excluded from the commission process for a new aluminium smelter, and
666-534: A similar contract with Al-Fayed, for fifty years. Al-Fayed also associated with the geologist George de Mohrenschildt . He terminated his stay in Haiti six months later when a sample of "crude oil" provided by Haitian associates proved to be low-grade molasses . 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
740-523: A son, Dodi , who was in a romantic relationship with Diana, Princess of Wales , when they both died in a car crash in Paris in 1997. Fayed falsely claimed that the crash was a result of a conspiracy , including that the crash was orchestrated by MI6 on the instructions of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh . In 2011, Fayed financially supported an unreleased documentary film Unlawful Killing , that presented his version of events. From 1995 onwards, Fayed
814-473: A staff of two then expanded in the following years into other units. The premises were originally a mixture of Victorian era buildings which included a shopping arcade , called the Victoria Arcade, running through the store. The Leeds store was rebuilt in 1962 in a modernist style typical of the era. In September 1984 the business was sold to Clayform Properties Ltd who had intended to redevelop
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#1732794528609888-666: A yacht called the Sokar in Monaco prior to selling it in 2014. In 1984, Al-Fayed and his brother Ali, purchased a 30 percent stake for £138 million in the House of Fraser , a group that included the Knightsbridge department store Harrods , from Tiny Rowland, the head of Lonrho. Lonrho had been pursuing control of the House of Fraser since 1977, and had been prevented from acquiring
962-667: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Schofields (department store) Schofields was a department store that operated on the Headrow in Leeds , England , from 1901 to 1996. For much of the 20th century Schofields was regarded as being the pinnacle of shopping in Leeds city centre . The site is now home to The Core , formerly The Headrow Centre . Schofields also had department stores in Harrogate (an acquisition of
1036-560: Is home to new stores including a Bank and JD Sports combined store, a Cotswold Outdoor Clothing , and a USC . A new food court seating 500 people was intended to be located above New Look. The design features include the extensive use of glass. The developer, the Propinvest Group, has described the Leeds development as its flagship centre. However, as of July 2011 many interior retail units within The Core remain vacant and
1110-480: The Schofields Centre . During the construction work Schofields was located on Briggate in a former Woolworths store. With the opening of the new Schofields in 1990 it was decided that the temporary store on Briggate would be retained by the company and be known as Rackhams , another trading name used by House of Fraser. The new Schofields on the Headrow closed down on 27 July 1996 due to competition from
1184-474: The 1988 DTI report into Al-Fayed's background stated "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" Fayed then moved to England, where he lived in central London. Ingratiating himself in London's Arab expatriate community, Al-Fayed met an Iraqi businessman, Salim Abu Alwan, and through Alwan
1258-470: The Al-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. 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." The first loan, from a Swiss bank, was replaced with another loan secured by House of Fraser shares,
1332-630: The Al-Fayeds had acquired the House of Fraser with none of their own money used to purchase it. The Al-Fayeds ownership of Harrods was complete when the British government issued a press release announcing that it would not refer the Al-Fayeds' bid to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission . During the final stages of the Al-Fayeds purchase of Harrods, Tiny Rowland wrote to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry , Norman Tebbit , repudiating
1406-464: The Al-Fayeds outside of the Observer was virtually stopped. 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. Illicit bugging devices were used and some of
1480-419: The Al-Fayeds story of the origin of their families wealth. Rowland also enlisted the help of Ashraf Marwan , to aid him in his exposing of the Al-Fayeds. The Observer newspaper, owned by Rowland, was used to attack the Al-Fayeds. Al-Fayed issued a libel suit against The Observer , and other newspapers critical of the Al-Fayeds were routinely threatened or issued with similar writs. All critical reporting of
1554-549: 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. Harrods had entered a steady decline under Hugh Fraser, yet still accounted for half of the House of Fraser group's profits. Determined to restore Harrods' fortunes, Al-Fayed hired Brian Walsh as manager of House of Fraser. Walsh created divisions in
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#17327945286091628-725: The Egyptian Escalators, which replaced the store's central lifts. 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 £20 million being spent on the Egyptian escalator. In 1991 the House of Commons Trade and Industry Committee told the Governor of the Bank of England , Robin Leigh-Pemberton to order
1702-595: 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. Al-Fayed bought his brother, Saleh, out of his interest in Harrods for £100 million in 1994. 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
1776-545: 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 Observer s libel defence, with
1850-435: The House of Fraser, a ruling that left Roland "incandescent". 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." Al-Fayed bought the remaining 70 percent of the House of Fraser in early 1985 for £615 million, sparking
1924-611: The MP had received up to £110,000 in cash and other gratuities for asking parliamentary questions. Hamilton's basis for his appeal was that the original verdict was invalid because Al-Fayed had paid £10,000 for documents stolen from the dustbins of Hamilton's legal representatives by Benjamin Pell . In 2003 Fayed moved from Surrey to Switzerland, alleging a breach in an agreement with the British tax authority . In 2005, he moved back to Britain, saying that he "regards Britain as home". He moored
1998-664: The Secretary of State, to the Office of Fair Trading, to the House of Fraser board and shareholders, and their own advisers' 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". In 1993 the European Court of Human Rights dismissed a case brought by Al-Fayed and his brothers against
2072-572: The admission of Mohamed to the sultan's confidence ... It is, however, a very powerful coincidence." Using a power of attorney, Al-Fayed bought the Dorchester Hotel for the sultan in 1985. Al-Fayed accompanied the sultan to 10 Downing Street to visit Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in January 1985, with sterling in decline and threatening the economy. The sultan, who had moved £5 billion ($ 5.6 billion) of assets out of pounds, moved
2146-463: The aim of pressuring the government into releasing the report. Lawyers from the DTI produced a court injunction and ordered all copies of The Observer s version of the report to be handed over or pulped. The report was officially published in 1990. The DTI report said that the Al-Fayed brothers had 'dishonestly represented their origins, their wealth, their business interests and their resources to
2220-478: The assets back into sterling. Al-Fayed took credit for this and for persuading the sultan to give half a billion pounds of contracts to British defence industries. Fayed briefly joined the board of the mining conglomerate Lonrho in 1975 but left after a disagreement. In 1979 he bought the Ritz hotel in Paris, France, for US$ 30 million. In 1984 Fayed and his brothers purchased a 30% stake in House of Fraser ,
2294-578: The charges were dropped. Sensitive documents were stolen, along with jewellery, rare stamps and a gold cigarette case, among other items. Fayed settled the dispute with a payment to Rowland's widow; he also sued the Metropolitan Police for false arrest in 2002, but lost the case. In 1994 House of Fraser went public, but Fayed retained ownership of Harrods. He unsuccessfully applied for British citizenship twice, in 1994 and 1999. It has been suggested that his feud with Rowland contributed to
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2368-529: The company by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission in a 1981 ruling, although its purchase of The Observer was approved. After his purchase of the House of Fraser shares, Al-Fayed demanded that Rowland leave the board of House of Fraser, and courted the chairman of House of Fraser, Professor Roland Smith, who received a retroactive bonus once Al-Fayed had acquired the company. The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry , John Biffen , ruled that Lonrho must give an undertaking not to buy any more shares in
2442-459: The company, and more than 200 buyers resigned in the next two years. Following arguments with Al-Fayed, Walsh was fired in October 1987. To calm staff, Al-Fayed distributed envelopes containing £2,000 in cash. Following Walsh's departure, Al-Fayed moved his offices onto the fifth floor of Harrods, and took a more hands-on role as chairman of the store. Walsh was replaced by Michael Ellis-Jones, who
2516-614: The confiscation of Egyptian property in 1961, Al-Fayed transferred ownership of his Middle Eastern Navigation Company to Genoa in Italy. 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. 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
2590-543: The construction of Dubai's aluminium 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. The case came to court in October 1994, and after trying to unsuccessfully settle the case with the Maktoums, Al-Fayed
2664-415: The development of Jebel Ali , putting Costain's future profits at risk. In 1993 Al-Fayed was visited at Harrods by Mohammed Alabbar , the director of Dubai's Department of Economic Development. 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
2738-559: The disastrous effect that his deception had on the case that day. In the mid-1960s, he met the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum , who entrusted him with helping transform Dubai, where he set up IMS (International Marine Services) in 1968. Fayed introduced British companies like the Costain Group (of which he became a director and 30% shareholder ), Bernard Sunley & Sons , and Taylor Woodrow to
2812-513: The emirate to carry out construction work. Al-Fayed became a financial adviser to the then Sultan of Brunei Omar Ali Saifuddien III in 1966. Al-Fayed told Maureen Orth that he had known Hassanal Bolkiah , who succeeded Saifuddien on his abdication, since the sultan's childhood and that they had met during the building of a trade centre in Brunei. Tiny Rowland told DTI inspectors that Al-Fayed had told him that he negotiated an introduction to
2886-423: The existence of Schofields in Leeds was a NCP multi-storey car park , located near to the former department store premises, on Albion Street that continued to use the name of 'Schofields Car Park' despite the demise of this department store (but was rebranded in 2009 as "The Core" car park). The store was founded by Snowden Schofield on Saturday 4 May 1901 in a single unit as a "fancy drapers and milliners" with
2960-538: The expansion of their premises on nearby Briggate and HMV moved into the former M&S in about 1996. The former Schofields premises which had become the Schofields Centre subsequently became known as The Headrow Centre . This centre had been occupied by Lillywhites sportswear retailer between 1996 and 2001 and was later occupied by several chain stores including Sports Direct , New Look and HMV . The Headrow Centre management has recently let most of
3034-451: The first refusal. 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. 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. In January 1997 Al-Fayed established
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3108-448: The first time, visiting France, Italy and Switzerland. Returning to Egypt, Al-Fayed confessed to his wife, Samira Kashoggi , Adnan Kashoggi's sister, that he had had an affair, and she demanded a divorce. Al-Fayed terminated his partnership with Adhan Kashoggi, and secretly withdrew £100,000 from Kashoggi's Al Nasr trading company. Kashoggi issued a writ against Al-Fayed for the return of the money, and later agreed with Al-Fayed to forgive
3182-526: The government in disgrace, and a Committee on Standards in Public Life established to prevent such corruption occurring again. Fayed also revealed that cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken stayed for free at the Ritz Hotel in Paris at the same time as a group of Saudi arms dealers, leading to Aitken's unsuccessful libel case and later imprisonment for perjury . During this period, Al-Fayed's spokesman
3256-406: 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. The artist and designer, William Mitchell, was hired by Al-Fayed to create an 'entertaining retail environment'; this resulted in the creation of an Egyptian Hall on the ground floor of Harrods and, following its success,
3330-715: The law firm Herbert Smith , the Al-Fayeds' bankers submitted to the government a one and a half page summary of their assets, which the government accepted. 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". A press release by Kleinwort Benson stated that the Al-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
3404-431: 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 Al-Fayeds really owned the money they were using to buy HOF (House of Fraser) 1988 DTI report into the background of the Fayed brothers In March 1985 the Al-Fayeds announced a formal cash offer for House of Fraser of £615 million, which Kleinwort claimed
3478-489: The money and other loans and debts in return for Samira's freedom to remarry and return to Egypt. 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. Carasso later claimed that Al-Fayed had defaulted on the agreed payment for his business. Fayed also acquired interests in other transport companies at favourable prices. After Nasser ordered
3552-461: 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. The results of Rowland's investigations into the Al-Fayeds were given to the Sunday newspaper The Observer , owned by Lonrho. The Observer campaigned for an inquiry into
3626-430: The new trade secretary, Norman Tebbit , had prevented Lonrho from bidding while Al-Fayed's deal went through. To take control of the House of Fraser group, the Al-Fayed brothers had to convince the British government that they possessed sufficient assets to securely purchase the group. The Al-Fayeds invented a spurious family history of old money for themselves. Represented by the investment bankers Kleinwort Benson and
3700-697: The next twenty years, with legal repercussions 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. 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
3774-550: The other House of Fraser store on Briggate and as a result of consolidation by House of Fraser as a whole. This Briggate store was later rebranded as House of Fraser, which it remained until its closure in 2022. The building was subsequently demolished and, as of 2024, is being redeveloped as ground floor retail with multiple floors of student accommodation above. The new Schofields Centre opened with other retailers renting retail units. These included HMV and Marks & Spencer . Marks & Spencer later closed this outlet due to
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#17327945286093848-477: The proposed food court has since been occupied by a gymnasium . As of March 2024 planning permission has been granted for the demolition of The Core and it's redevelopment as three separate blocks of ground floor retail with six floors of student accommodation above. New roads or pedestrian areas will be created between the blocks. Al Fayed Mohamed Abdel Moneim Al-Fayed ( / æ l ˈ f aɪ . ɛ d / ; 27 January 1929 – 30 August 2023)
3922-472: The richest man in the world, to fund the purchase. 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
3996-537: The rise to power of Gamal Abdel Nasser . The DTI report 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
4070-485: The ruler of Sharjah, and accused Bettermann of stealing large sums of money. Bettermann was cleared by three courts in which Fayed had pressed charges. Al-Fayed delighted in retail theatre, and during his 25 years at Harrods dressed as a Harrods doorman, a boy scout and Father Christmas over the years. Celebrities 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
4144-416: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Schofields . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Schofields&oldid=858673510 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
4218-568: The site but planning permission was not granted. In 1988 the store was sold to the Al Fayed brothers who also owned Harrods and were then owners of House of Fraser . Following this, the store, whilst retaining the Schofields name, became part of the House of Fraser chain. This led to the 1987 reconstruction of the 1960s store which included reducing the size of the actual store and creating an adjoining shopping centre which became known as
4292-425: The staff are being given very little time to find new jobs. It is also seen as the centre 'killing' off the small businesses in order to attract more chain stores. The renovations are estimated to take 18 months to complete and 10 stores will be remaining open while the work is going on. The new centre has been finished in late 2009 and now trades as The Core due to its place in the core of the city centre. The Core
4366-468: The streets of Alexandria, and sold Singer sewing machines at the age of twenty-one. In 1952 Al-Fayed was hired by a friend, Tousson El Barrawi, and the seventeen-year-old Adnan Khashoggi for their furniture import business. Al-Fayed excelled at the business and impressed Adhan's father, Mohamed Kashoggi, the personal physician of the King of Saudi Arabia . In the early 1950s Al-Fayed travelled to Europe for
4440-401: The sultan for $ 500,000 plus a percentage of any resulting business with an Indian holy man and alleged fraudster, Shri Chandra Swamiji Maharaj . Rowland later admitted this account was untrue. In mid-1984 Al-Fayed received several powers of attorney and written authorisations from the sultan to carry out tasks for him. These gave Al-Fayed access to large sums of the sultan's money. The sultan
4514-399: The tenancy agreements run out in order to redevelop the premises in the hope of attracting more business. The decision to let tenancy agreements expire, whilst only giving the shops 28 days notice of the closure in most cases, has caused negative media comments to be directed towards the centre. Many of the stores that have been in the centre for up to 15 years are being forced to close down and
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#17327945286094588-534: The wharf at Port-au-Prince . 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 the Haitian government owed him $ 2 million;
4662-458: Was Michael Cole , a former BBC journalist. Hamilton lost a libel action against Al-Fayed in December 1999 and an appeal against the verdict in December 2000. The former MP has always denied that he was paid by Al-Fayed for asking questions in Parliament. Hamilton's libel action related to a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary broadcast on 16 January 1997 in which Al-Fayed stated that
4736-535: Was an Egyptian businessman whose residence and primary business interests were in the United Kingdom from the mid-1960s. His business interests included ownership of the Hôtel Ritz Paris , Harrods department store and Fulham Football Club . At the time of his death in 2023, Forbes estimated his wealth at US$ 2 billion. Fayed was married to Samira Khashoggi from 1954 to 1956. They had
4810-525: Was born on 27 January 1929 in the Roshdy neighbourhood of Alexandria , in the Kingdom of Egypt , the eldest son of an Egyptian primary school teacher from Asyut . His year of birth has been disputed. The Department of Trade in 1988 found his date of birth was 27 January 1929. His brothers Ali and Salah were his business colleagues. At the age of nineteen Al-Fayed was selling bottles of Coca-Cola on
4884-407: Was due to testify on 17 October. 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. Alabbar 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
4958-844: Was fired after eight weeks. Christoph Bettermann became the deputy chairman of Harrods in 1990, after having worked for Al-Fayed in Dubai since 1984. 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. Al-Fayed wrote to
5032-691: Was introduced to Mahdi Al Tajir . 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 to build modern harbour facilities. 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
5106-698: Was later appointed a company director. 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. In 1974 Al-Fayed met Roland 'Tiny' Rowland , a British businessman with extensive interests in Southern Africa, and the chairman of international conglomerate Lonrho . Fayed's complex professional relationship with Rowland dominated his life for
5180-555: Was published in 1998. Al-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. In 1994, in what became known as the cash-for-questions affair , Fayed revealed the names of MPs he had paid to ask questions in Parliament on his behalf, but who had failed to declare their fees. It saw Conservative MPs Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith leave
5254-446: Was taken against the Fayeds, and while many believed the contents of the report, others felt it was politically motivated. Rowland described his relationship with the Fayed family in his book A Hero from Zero . In 1998 Rowland, who died that year, accused Fayed of stealing papers and jewels from his Harrods safe deposit box . Fayed was arrested, along with the director of Harrods security, John MacNamara, and four other employees, but
5328-539: Was the subject of media scrutiny and investigations into allegations of sexual harassment and assault . Early media scrutiny of sexual misconduct allegations against Al-Fayed was curtailed by his frequent threats of litigation. He developed a reputation for spending large sums on litigation against media outlets reporting on sexual assault allegations against him. In 2024 he became the subject of multiple posthumous accusations of rape , with over 200 women making complaints of illegal activity by September of that year. Fayed
5402-536: Was then the richest man in the world. During this period, the bank of the three Fayed brothers, the Royal Bank of Scotland , received a transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars from Switzerland into their accounts. 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
5476-482: Was untethered by any borrowings. There has not yet been a comprehensive account of Al-Fayeds finances in 1985, but the DTI report claimed that by October 1984 the Al-Fayeds had at least $ 600 million in the Royal Bank of Scotland and in a Swiss bank at their disposal. "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. The money
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