Main Index

Section Six Index:
Mohamed 'Al' Fayed - the facts

Mohamed 'Al' Fayed's early vendettas against his perceived enemies were facilitated by a woman by the name of Francesca Pollard.  The alliance between Fayed and Pollard began on 5 June 1986, when the Egyptian received a letter from her to which there was attached a copy of a recent letter that she had sent his rival, Tiny Rowland.

    In the early 1970s Francesca Pollard had been in line to inherit £8 million from her father's shareholding in the Israel British Bank, which her grandfather had founded.  The bank collapsed in July 1974 -- leaving Pollard with nothing -- after being subjected to a £30 million swindle which she believed her distant relative, Harry Landy, had been involved in.
    Landy was subsequently convicted of fraud in 1979 and sentenced to five years imprisonment.  However, his conviction was overturned on appeal on a technicality.  After being released from Wormwood Scrubs prison, he went on to become managing director and deputy chairman of Lonrho subsidiary company London City & Westcliff Properties Ltd. 
    Pollard was convinced that Rowland and others had been involved in the scam she believed Landy had perpetrated.  As a consequence, she began a one-woman protest campaign to recover her inheritance.  By 1985, this had involved carrying placards outside Parliament and around Whitehall and the City, naming those she blamed for her predicament.  The accused were: Harry Landy and Tiny Rowland (of Lonrho); Alan Wheatley (of City accountants Price Waterhouse); and Gerald Ronson (of retailing conglomerate Heron International).

Francesca Pollard.  She was employed by Mohamed Fayed to discredit his perceived enemies

    Fayed was intrigued by Pollard's letter and so he ordered his private investigator, Richard New, to find out more about her.  Consequently, using the alias 'Richard Neale', New sent her a postcard bearing the message:

        'Dear Francesca,
        Re your recent letter to Tiny Rowland, and copied to other parties, it is extremely interesting.
        Please phone Richard NEALE on 486 6321.  I'd obviously like to discuss the story.'

Shortly afterwards, Francesca Pollard and her partner, Alex Lakhani, met up with New, whereupon he questioned her about her dispute.  This was the first of several meetings over the following weeks between New and Pollard, during which he offered her money and legal help in her campaign, if she re-focused it entirely on Tiny Rowland as being the source of her troubles.  As a result, Pollard was introduced to Fayed, whereupon she entered into an agreement to help him in his battle against Rowland, if he helped her in her own fight for her inheritance.
    A week later on 9 April 1987 Trade & Industry Minister Paul Channon endorsed Corporate Affairs Minister Michael Howard's recommendation to appoint two independent Inspectors -- chartered accountant Hugh Aldous FCA and barrister Philip Heslop QC -- to investigate Fayed's acquisition of House of Fraser. 
    On 11 May Heslop resigned after Fayed alleged that he had connections with Rowland.  Henry Brooke QC was installed as his replacement two days later on 15 May. 
    In the general election of 11 June Margaret Thatcher and her Conservative Party were swept back to power.  Once settled into 10 Downing Street, Prime Minister Thatcher removed Paul Channon as Trade & Industry minister, replacing him with Lord Young of Graffham. 

Two months later on 6 August, Fayed disseminated the first of what would become a campaign of poisonous letters carrying the signature of his new accomplice, the disinherited Francesca Pollard.  Like all such letters that followed, it was written by Fayed's private detective, Richard New.  This first missive was sent to DTI Inspectors Brooke & Aldous in an attempt to discredit Tiny Rowland and the evidence that he and the Observer's journalists had submitted to their Inquiry.
    The following March 1988 Brooke & Aldous questioned the Fayed brothers about the false stories about their background that Brian Basham, of PR company Broad Street Associates, had disseminated to the Press on behalf of Fayed's bankers, Kleinwort Benson, in preparation of the successful bid.  The two Inspectors' incisive questions would have showed that they had digested and verified the material Rowland had supplied. 
    Two weeks later on 23 July, in a last-ditch effort to intimidate the Inspectors into mollifying their conclusions, Fayed's detective Richard New composed another letter for Francesca Pollard to send to Brooke & Aldous in her own name.  It was the seventh such letter that had been sent to the Inspectors:

        Dear Mr Aldous,
        "The dog (Rowland) barked and the caravan (Inspectors) moved on" -- Ismail
        You will remember that I wrote to you on 6^th August last year, concerning that colossus of
        corruption, Tiny Rowland…  I am now writing in your capacity as one of the Inspectors appointed
        to investigate Rowland's dealings in the shares of Harrods… while I envy you your task, I am not
        optimistic that you will succeed in exposing Rowland's corrupt empire…
            What can ordinary decent people, like you and I, do against a man who, behind his "sincere"
        mask is the master perjurer.  A man whose whole life is a lie…  That Rowland is like an octopus
        whose corrupt tentacles of bribery, blackmail and threats now extends everywhere is well known.
        Firstly, like J Edgar Hoover, he has something on everybody, and that is why the establishment is
        now so scared of him.  …he will view you as a fish -- to be played.  He has lied to every previous
        Inquiry, and has bombarded them, and every one else he thinks appropriate, with reams and
        volumes of lies and red herrings.  His purpose is, of course, to create a smokescreen in order to
        divert attention away from the truth…  So you see, Sir, the reasons for my pessimism, and my
        belief that you too will be duped by Rowland and his allies…  Who else will you see?  What lies
        would you get from his army of "respectable" influence-peddlers…  What about Rowland's
        personal mouthpiece, the Observer?  Is…his staff going to tell you the truth, and get fired, or are
        they going to lie, and print what he tells them and keep their well-paid jobs?…
            You may rest assured, Sir, that if Rowland is displeased with your report, then you will be
        "crucified" in the "independent" Observer.  I trust that this will not influence you…

The Inspectors were not deflected.  On Saturday, 23 July 1988, they submitted their devastating report to the new Trade minister, Lord Young.

Daily Telegraph article on Mohamed Fayed's activities in Haiti

Continued overleaf