|
Letter from Christoph Bettermann to the
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards
Mr Mohamed Al-Fayed and The Guardian/Mr
Neil Hamilton
Thank you for your letter of 23 January 1997.
I must correct a misapprehension on your part
relating to the witness statement of mine to which you refer.
This was produced in connection with a libel action which I pursued
against Mr Mohamed Al-Fayed in England.
This case was settled in February 1996 on terms
which obliged Mr Al-Fayed to make a Statement in Open Court admitting
that all the charges he had made against me were completely false
and invented and that his false allegations ought never to have
been made. He undertook not to repeat them and paid me very substantial
damages and costs.
I would be delighted to provide you with whatever
details you might require of my case, which demonstrates Mr Al-Fayed's
infinite capacity to invent wild allegations calculated to do
the utmost damage to the reputation of professional people and
to pursue them ruthlessly regardless of expense.
I authorise you to speak directly to my solicitor,
Mrs Elizabeth Bryant of Peter Carter-Ruck and Partners, and my
leading counsel, Charles Gray QC.
I resigned from Mr Al-Fayed's companies in June
1991, after I had discovered that he had secretly intercepted
my telephone calls and recorded my private conversations. Mr
Al-Fayed thereupon threatened that he would destroy me which
he proceeded to try to do by inventing and broadcasting completely
untrue allegations that I had defrauded his companies of US $900,000.
He complained in these terms against me to the
Ruler of Sharjah and, as a consequence of a complaint filed by
his lawyer in Dubai, I was summoned and interrogated by the police
on 17 December 1991. This began a five year nightmare, which
led to me being charged with serious criminal offences and having
to stand trial, with a risk of being sentenced to a long term
of imprisonment in an Arab jail.
On 20 December 1991, three days after I was
interrogated by the police, an article appeared in a London-based
Arabic newspaper, Al Harq Al Aswat ("Middle East").
This stated that I had embezzled US $900,000 from Mr Al-Fayed's
company and that I had spent two days in jail. This was completely
untrue - but the news spread in Dubai like a bushfire.
Subsequent articles were published in the Dubai
"Gulf News" on 27 January 1992 and 28 September 1992.
An article also appeared in Private Eye on 7 May 1993.
I am absolutely certain that Mr Al-Fayed was the source of all
these articles. It is typical of his tactics.
There is a simple but very efficient pattern
to all Mr Al-Fayed's feuds. I am sure that you will be able to
discern it in the case which you are examining. The scheme he
uses is to make serious allegations against individuals to the
relevant authorities and then immediately report to the press
that the individual is under investigation.
Because of his access to enormous funds (and
the power of his Harrods advertising budget) he does not find
it difficult to interest the media in his stories. My experience
is far from unique. I can give you other examples: Mr Peter
Bolliger, who resigned as managing director of Harrods in 1994,
having been accused of incompetence, dishonesty and dereliction
of duty. To the best of my knowledge there was no truth in these
charges. Similarly Mr Graham Jones, a House of Fraser Director
who left in 1990 followed by trumped-up charges.
Both cases were reported at the time.
I was myself asked to participate in a similar
"black propaganda" exercise. In the early 1980s Mr Al-Fayed
had a dispute with Mr Mahdi Al Tajir, then UAE ambassador to
the UK. I was not then working for Mr Al-Fayed but visited him
upon instruction of the Chairman of a German public sector group
by whom I was employed.
During the visit Mr Al-Fayed introduced me to
Mr Michael Gillard of The Observer and suggested that I
gave Mr Gillard information about Mr Nick Popich, an associate
of Mr Tajir who was alleged to have Mafia contacts. Mr Al-Fayed's
scheme was to establish some "guilt by association"
on this basis on the part of Mr Al Tajir. I was however careful
with my statement and Mr Gillard decided that there was nothing
to write about.
In my bitter personal experience Mr Al-Fayed
is a compulsive liar who will stop at nothing to achieve his
objectives. Any statement of his and of his close employees seeking
to corroborate him should be treated with the greatest circumspection.
If I can be of any further assistance to you
in your Enquiry please do not hesitate to contact me.
3 February 1997
| 
