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Index to British press articles on the Fayeds' purchase of Harrods

A week after The Observer's article of 18 May, alleging for the second time that Mark Thatcher had visited Brunei with Mohamed Al Fayed during late October 1984, The Sunday Times's Ivan Fallon, who had previously given gushing support to the Fayeds, launched an overt attack on The Observer.
    In his article Fallon cites evidence which he claims proves that the Observer's story was false.  He reports that the Sultan's personal aide, Major Christopher Hanbury, denied the story.  Fallon makes no reference to he Observer's article of 4 August 1985, written by Lorana Sullivan, in which Sullivan revealed that Hanbury was also a director of the Fayed-owned Liechtenstein company, Hyde Park SA, into which Mohamed Fayed had deposited the Sultan's funds with which he and his brothers then bought House of Fraser.
    Fallon also quotes the editor of the Borneo Bulletin, Han Ling, as denying the story.  However, a study of Fallon's quotation of Ling shows that he did not contradict but rather confirmed the Observer's central allegation that Mark Thatcher had visited Brunei in October 1984.

The Sunday Times
Sunday, 25 May 1986

THE EGYPTIAN owners of Harrods, the Fayed brothers, will this week seek to bring actions for criminal libel against The Observer newspaper following an article last week under the heading "Mark Thatcher and guru clues to Harrods deal".  The story has been strongly denied by most of the parties mentioned, notably the Sultan of Brunei.  The document on which the story is based is described by the Sultan's office as "a forgery". 
    The article produced what it claimed was "powerful new evidence" that Thatcher, the Prime Minister's son, visited Brunei with Mohamed Al Fayed, the senior of the three brothers who last year paid £615m cash for Harrods' parent company House of Fraser.  As a result of that visit, the paper alleged, the Fayeds were helped by Mrs Thatcher's government to thwart the efforts of Tiny Rowland, chief executive of Lonrho which owns The Observer, to take over House of Fraser, while giving preference to the Fayeds. 
    Much of the new material, however, has now been denied by Brunei officials, by the "guru" mentioned in the story, and by the Fayeds.
    The most forceful denial came from the Sultan of Brunei's office.  In a statement authorised by the Sultan, his personal aide Major Christopher Hanbury said: "The letter produced by The Observer last week bearing the signature of Dato Ali, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Home affairs, is a forgery."  The Sultan himself has initialled the statement, which is in the possession of the Sunday Times.
    The letter, apparently written on Brunei Ministry of Home Affairs notepaper, said that Mohamed Al Fayed and Thatcher "were entered into Bandar Sri Bhagawan, Sultanate of Brunei on 24^th day of October 1984 and depareted (sic) on 26^th October 1984 by air passage."
    Hanbury said yesterday: "I can confirm that Mark Thatcher never went to Brunei with Mohamed Al Fayed and to the best of my knowledge has never been there anyway.  I'm sure the high Commissioner in Brunei will confirm that."
    On Friday the British High Commissioner in Brunei, Francis Cornish, said if Thatcher ever was in Brunei, he was not aware of it.  "I think I would have known if he had been here.  But neither I nor any other member of my staff knew about it if he did come."
    The Observer said last week that the visit had been "independently confirmed" by Han Ling, the editor of the Borneo Bulletin.  Last week the Sunday Times contacted Ling, who said he had not spoken to the Observer.  The paper quoted him as saying: "I know for a fact Mark Thatcher was here."  This, said Ling, sounded like part of a quote he had given to Paul Foot of The Daily Mirror.  The rest of that quote added: "But I don't know if he met the Sultan."  The Sultan's office says the ruler was out of the country during that time.
    Downing Street sources have refused to make any official comment, but in January said to the best of their knowledge Thatcher has never been to Brunei.  Mohamed Al Fayed said: "I state categorically I have never met Mark Thatcher, I have never been to Brunei with him, or had any dealings with him.  The story is completely inaccurate. 
    But there was an even more startling denial to The Observer story.  Last week the paper carried a picture of a bearded man in a long flowing robe said to be Shri Chandra Swamiji Maharaj.  It described him as "a rich and mysterious Indian guru" who "is another key figure in the Harrods deal."  The Observer says that it was the swami "who arranged the introduction of Mohamed Fayed to the Sultan of Brunei in 1984." 
    Last week from New York the swami's business adviser, Kailash Nath Agarwal, also mentioned in The Observer story, wrote to Donald Trelford, the newspaper's editor, saying that the article was "inaccurate in a number of important respects."  The swami, referred to in the letter as "His Holiness", played "no role whatsoever in the Harrods deal.  Nor did he arrange any introduction of Mr Al Fayed to the Sultan.  It is our understanding that Mr Fayed and the Sultan knew each other well before His Holiness met either party."  The Sultan's office confirmed that Mohamed Al Fayed had known His Majesty some time before the swami ever appeared on the scene.
    Hanbury said he had been authorised by the Sultan to deny The Observer's allegations relating to Thatcher, to deny that the Sultan or his officials played any role whatever in the British government's actions over House of Fraser, and to deny the central Observer theme, repeated over a dozen articles, that the Sultan's wealth had been used by the Fayeds to buy Fraser.  "There is no truth in any of it, no truth whatsoever."
    Later this week the Fayeds plan to produce their own documentary evidence, backed, they say, by affidavits and signed statements from the officials involved, refuting every major point in The Observer story.
    In January the Observer carried a story on its front page mentioning for the first time the allegations of Mark Thatcher's involvement.  That story was bylined "staff reporter", but Donald Trelford admitted he personally had "pulled it together" and that the story had come to him "through the proprietor Tiny Rowland".  He had, he added, made independent checks.
    What those independent checks were is not clear, and Trelford yesterday would not be drawn.  Last week The Sunday Times could find no one involved in the events who had spoken to The Observer.  The Sultan's office was not contacted.
    Yesterday Trelford issued a statement to the Sunday Times saying that The Observer had not received "the statement attributed to the Sultan of Brunei", nor the swami's letter nor anything from the Fayeds.  "We are not deterred by threats.  When we have more to say, we will say it in The Observer.  Meanwhile we stand by our story."

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