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

Following his return from a fortnight's excursion to Dubai, The Observer's City editor, Melvyn Marckus, comments on the appointment three weeks earlier of DTI Inspectors to investigate Mohamed Al Fayed's fraudulent acquisition of Harrods.
    From the tone of his piece it is clear that he looks forward to the opportunity of having The Observer's research into the affair scrutinised by the Inspectors.

The Observer 
Sunday, 3 May 1987

It was on Thursday 9 April that The Observer's two-year campaign calling for an inquiry into the £615 million acquisition of House of Fraser by the Egyptian Fayed brothers was duly rewarded.  Secretary of State Paul Channon appointed DTI Inspectors Philip Heslop QC, and chartered accountant Hugh Aldous to investigate the circumstances surrounding the take-over.  Content in this knowledge I flew to a foreign land, from whence I returned last week. 
    Fortune favoured me in that I learned of the inquiry before my departure.  Idly glancing at the Murdoch Press in the shape of The Sunday Times I might have suspected that headlines such as THE PROBES PICK UP SPEED: 'DTI inspectors to include Lonrho' that the investigation was into Lonrho rather than House of Fraser. 
    Not so.  It is the circumstances surrounding the take-over of House of Fraser that are under investigation and, hurt and angry as Mohamed Fayed may be, the person at the centre of such circumstances is himself. 
    It so happened that it was The Times that informed me that Mohamed Fayed was 'hurt and angry.'  In an article entitled 'Laird of Harrods at bay', Fayed declared: 'Yes, I am hurt.  I have given the large part of myself to this country which became my home.  A government I helped in ways of great importance has now shown me no respect.'
    He continued: 'What can be the point of such an inquiry?  Two other Ministers looked in detail at the Harrods acquisition and have been satisfied.  Look here, I show you their letters.  OK?  So why now do they surrender to this man -- to shut him up until after the election?  It is a disgraceful thing. 
    'For 30 years I have done business in the City. Show me one man who has doubted my word.  Now there's a shadow on my dignity and my honour.  I can live without riches.  I cannot live without a good name.  A dog barked and the ministers listened.' 
    A strange outburst, one might conclude, from someone who only a matter of days before had described the inquiry as 'an opportunity to clear this matter up once and for all.'  Hardly the sort of display from a close associate of public relations Svengali Sir Gordon Reece [Margaret Thatcher's personal PR adviser]. 
    There is, after all, not much to clear up.  Fayed has showered The Observer with writs for alleging that the £615 million acquisition of House of Fraser was not financed entirely out of the Fayeds' own resources.  Such matters should hardly be shrouded in mystique.  One might be forgiven for assuming that the production of appropriate bank statements -- of sufficient history -- would put the Fayeds' finances in some perspective. 
    I have little doubt that if I had challenged the extent of the Rockefeller family fortune, irrefutable evidence of the extent of the Rockefellers' wealth -- popularly estimated at some $3½ billion -- would have swiftly been forthcoming. 
    Curiously Fayed, who complains of the 'inconvenience' of a DTI inquiry, appears intent on prolonging this discomfort by challenging the appointment of Heslop, who happens to be acting for the ill-fated Ernest Saunders.  Presumably the fact that Lonrho, led by Fayed's arch critic Tiny Rowland, acquired Haig and a bevy of surplus whisky brands from Guinness/Distillers, weighs heavily on the mind of the Park Lane Pharaoh.
    Rowland's recent utterances of goodwill towards Saunders may also weigh heavily.  But quite how such matters have any bearing on the circumstances surrounding the acquisition of the House of Fraser is a moot point.  Heslop, for his part, appears suitably unmoved by Fayed's persistent attacks on his integrity. 
    Bearing in mind that Fayed faces nothing more embarrassing than convincing the DTI's inspectors of the existence of his £3 billion fortune -- gleaned largely from an Alexandrian family of cotton rich shipowners -- the identity of any humble inquisitor would hardly appear worthy of consideration. 
    Not that The Observer's extensive inquiries in Egypt uncovered such riches, but Fayed presumably has ready documentation to refute our allegations that such tales -- albeit fit for the Office of Fair Trading -- are reminiscent of the Arabian Nights.  The Observer is, of course, only too willing to make its detailed findings into the Fayeds' history available to the DTI inspectors. 
    It was in order to pursue our inquiries into the Fayeds' history that I departed for Dubai two weeks ago.  Mohamed Fayed's penchant for helping Governments in ways of great importance was to the forefront of my mind.  Watch this space.

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