Mohamed Al-Fayed

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Mohamed Abdel Moneim Fayed (Arabic: محمد الفايد ) (b. January 27, 1929) is an Egyptian-born businessman. He styles himself Mohamed al-Fayed, the al being an Arabic designation, to which some of his critics state he is not entitled.

Mohamed al-Fayed is the owner of Harrods department store in Knightsbridge, London, the English Premiership football team Fulham Football Club and other business interests. He re-launched Punch in 1996, only to see it fold again in 2002.

Fayed is married to Finnish socialite and former model Heini Wathén. Mohamed has four living children Jasmine, Karim, Camilla and Omar. A fifth child, Dodi died in a car crash in Paris in 1997 with Diana, Princess of Wales.

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[edit] History

Born in Bakos (باكوس), a neighbourhood in eastern Alexandria, Egypt, as the eldest son of a poor primary school teacher, Fayed tried a number of jobs, from selling Coca-Cola on the streets of his home city to working as a sewing machine salesman and as a teacher.

He made his money after he married the sister of the international arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, who employed him in his import business in Saudi Arabia. After establishing wide circles of influence in the UAE, Haiti, and London, Fayed founded his own shipping company in Egypt before becoming a financial adviser to one of the world's richest men, the Sultan of Brunei, in 1966.

He arrived in Britain in 1974 and added the al- to his name, earning the Private Eye nickname "the Phoney Pharaoh". He briefly joined the board of the mining conglomerate Lonrho in 1975. In 1985, he married Wathén, his second wife.

In 1979, Fayed bought the Hôtel Ritz Paris, and in 1985, he and his brother Ali bought the House of Fraser, a group that included the famous London store Harrods, for £615m. The Harrods deal was made under the nose of Roland 'Tiny' Rowland, the head of Lonrho. Rowland had been seeking to buy Harrods and took the Fayeds to a Department of Trade inquiry. The inquiry, involving one of the most bitter feuds in British business history, issued a 1990 report stating that the Fayed brothers had lied about their background and wealth. The bickering with Rowland continued when he accused them of stealing millions in jewels from his Harrods safe deposit box. Rowland died and al-Fayed settled the dispute with a payment to his widow. (Fayed had been arrested during the dispute and sued the Metropolitan Police for false arrest in 2002. He lost the case.)

In 1994, the House of Fraser went public, but Fayed retained private ownership of Harrods.

For years, Fayed has unsuccessfully sought British citizenship. Both Labour and Conservative Home Secretaries have repeatedly rejected his applications on the grounds that he is not of good character. Consequently, he has (unsuccessfully) taken the matter to court. In an effort to improve his image, he has given millions to charities such as Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Fayed was involved in the cash for questions scandal, having offered the Conservative MPs Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith money for asking questions in Parliament, in what some observers saw as a sting intended to incriminate ministers in a government that had deemed him to be unsavoury. He provided MP Jonathan Aitken's bill from the Ritz Hotel in Paris to Peter Preston at The Guardian, thus destroying Aitken's libel case against the newspaper and resulting in a perjury conviction for Aitken.

Fayed's son, Dodi, was dating Diana, Princess of Wales and was killed with her in a car crash in Paris in 1997. Fayed has since made repeated allegations that the deaths were not accidental but rather the result of a wide-ranging conspiracy involving Prince Philip, MI5 and others. This campaign has resulted in Harrods' loss of all of its Royal Warrants. Fayed has suggested that a cabal of British royalty and security officials could not stomach the possibility that Diana might bear a child to Dodi, and although there is no evidence that Diana, who had dated Dodi Fayed quite briefly before their deaths, had any plans to marry him, evidence exists that she was pregnant with their child at the time of her death, and is detailed on Fayed's website (link below). Fayed has also claimed that he is the victim of a long-running smear campaign to link him to the terrorist group al-Qaeda.

In 1998, he helped found The New School at West Heath as a tribute to the late Princess Diana, contributing almost £3 million GBP. It is part of the Al-Fayed Charitable Foundation.

In 2003, Fayed moved from Surrey, UK to Switzerland, alleging a breach in an agreement with the Her Majesty's Inland Revenue Commissioners. In January 2005, a Geneva newspaper stated that Fayed had moved again, to Monaco, to take advantage of a more favourable tax climate. Fayed is now thought to carry a UAE passport and has given up any claim upon British citizenship.

Fayed has an estimated fortune of between $880 million and $3.3 billion and continues to support many charities through the Al-Fayed Charitable Foundation. However, he is often criticised for not helping NGOs and charities in his original homeland, Egypt.[citation needed]

[edit] Fulham FC

Fayed bought Second Division (Coca-Cola League One) Fulham FC from chairman Jimmy Hill in the summer of 1997. This takeover was similar to that of Roman Abramovich in 2003. He wanted Fulham to be a footballing force for his pleasure and reputation rather than financial gain. He also hoped that Fulham would become a FA Premier League side within five years and installed the Managerial Dream team of Ray Wilkins & Kevin Keegan. Fulham stormed to the Second Division title with a record 101 points and in 2001 took the First Division (Coca-Cola Championship) under manager Jean Tigana.

Fayed stated that he wanted Fulham to become the 'Manchester United of the South' referring to Manchester United's recent rise to the best club in the world. Fulham fans and the world's media took this to heart and Al-Fayed invested £30 million in transfers. However, Fulham finished a disappointing 13th.

Al-Fayed has given up his dreams for Fulham and now appears to run the team only as a business. From 2003-2006 very little money was invested, but in the summer of 2006, Fayed put £6 million into transfers, which have seemingly excited the fans once again.

[edit] Organisations owned or involved in

[edit] Books and television

  • Fayed: The Unauthorized Biography by Tom Bower portrays Al-Fayed as a compulsive liar and fantasist.
  • "Mahmoud El-Masry", a fictionalized TV series based on Mohamed Al-Fayed's life, aired November 2004 simultaneously across Arabic-language satellite TV stations during the Ramadan month prime-time.
  • A 2005 television documentary made by Keith Allen, entitled, "You're Fayed!," included an extensive interview about Al-Fayed's views on the British Royal Family, Princess Diana, Harrods, and his lifestyle.
  • Al-Fayed appeared on the popular UK based Ali G show in which he and 'Ali' freestyled a rap on the topic of theft from Harrods, parodying the song 'Can I kick it' by A Tribe Called Quest into 'Can I nick it'.

[edit] External links

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