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APPENDIX 116
Letter from Mr Michael Land to the Parliamentary
Commissioner for Standards
Thank you for your letter dated 24 February
in connection with your inquiry into certain allegations made
against Members of Parliament.
I am pleased to assist you the best way I can
- but would ask you to bear in mind that the period you are looking
into is some 10 years ago and I must rely on memory for the information
you seek.
May I begin by drawing your attention to two
small matters I feel should be cleared up namely:
(a) I object to paragraph 2 of your letter
which makes the assumption that I was engaged as some sort of
"industrial spy". Nothing was further than the truth,
as I outline below in the replies to your specific questions.
I became involved with the Fayed organisation in late March 1987.
I left Lonrho some nine months previously.
(b) I am concerned at your assumption that
"my services were eventually dispensed with". This is
far from the truth as my reply to your last question highlights.
I now turn to your questions and give my replies
as follows:
1. Your relationship with Sir Andrew Bowden
I joined the Conservative Party in the mid 1970s,
but Sir Andrew was already known to me as I had stood as a Liberal
Candidate for local elections some years earlier. At the time
you are enquiring into I was ward officer of the Conservative
Association and as such had contact with Sir Andrew at various
meetings.
I would describe my relationship with Sir Andrew
as that of his active supporter and my Member of Parliament.
Since I have left active politics in 1993 I
see him only seldom - and then only in public as a speaker - or
by coincidence when he might be "doing his rounds"
in the area I live. His Constituency Offices are very near my
business address.
- The date and location of the meeting at which
you were introduced by Sir Andrew to Mr Al-Fayed and the names
of those present
I have never met Mr Al-Fayed consequently I
was never introduced to him by Sir Andrew or anyone else nor
have I ever attended any meeting with Mr Al-Fayed present. I do
not keep diaries and whilst I keep an appointments book I no
longer have one relating to my appointments 10 years ago - so
I am unable to answer your question with the accuracy you may
be anticipating.
I received, sometime in late February or early
March 1987, a phone call from Sir Andrew asking if I may be interested
in working for the Fayed organisation on a consultancy basis.
I was, at the time, self-employed as a Management Consultant.
We consequently met to discuss this matter and Sir Andrew related
to me his concern over the hammering Fayed was getting from Lonrho,
in particular Tiny Rowland. Sir Andrew was concerned about the
effect this dispute was having on possible other foreign investors
- and I had to agree with him. (All this was before the infamous
DTI report which found against the Fayeds. "Lies are truths
and truths are lies".) It was agreed a meeting would be
set up with the Fayeds and myself. As it transpired the meeting
which took place in late March 1987 was between Sir Andrew, myself
and the Fayed's then legal advisor Mr Royston Webb. We met at
his basement office in South Street, Mayfair, and then went for
lunch at the Grosvenor Hotel. As we walked from South Street
to the Grosvenor I can recall that Royston Webb told us that we
were being followed by his "bodyguards" which the Fayed
brothers laid on for him as personal protection against Tiny
Rowland. I felt very uneasy about the meeting because (a) I was
being watched and (b) this was grossly unfair to Tiny Rowland.
After lunch I went back with Royston Webb to
his offices (but without Sir Andrew who had to go back to the
House of Commons). Mr Webb outlined the background to the Fayed/Rowland
dispute from the Fayeds point of view. He then began questioning
my role at Lonrho. I recall telling him that I was not completely
up to date as I had left some nine months previously. I also
told him that I would not be prepared to divulge anything I felt
was confidential - as he would also not expect me to do about
any information he gave me. It was agreed that the best service
I could give him was to discuss with him the possible Lonrho and
Tiny Rowland's reaction to future scenarios that may transpire.
A further meeting was set up between Royston Webb and myself
for the next week or so.
During the next four months I had several meetings
with Royston Webb. He was the only person I ever met from the
Fayed organisation. I think at only one (possibly two) of these
meetings Sir Andrew was present.
- Term of any financial arrangement agreed,
or discussed, between you and Mr Al-Fayed, and the involvement,
if any, of Sir Andrew in these arrangements
As I never met Mr Fayed no financial arrangement
was ever made with him. At the second meeting with Royston Webb,
(after the lunchtime meeting at the Grosvenor - and without Sir
Andrew present) I brought up the matter of my fee for time spent
on the Fayed organisation. I mentioned that I was a management
consultant and would Mr Webb like my business to send him an
invoice at regular intervals. He said that he would not be involved
himself, but arrangements were being made for me to be contacted
in due course. I assumed that someone from either Personnel or
the Accounts Department would contact me. As it transpired a few
days after this meeting I was phoned and asked to collect a letter
addressed to me at the reception in the South Street offices
I called and was handed an envelope. On opening the envelope I
discovered cash totalling £500 in £20 notes. I was
not surprised at this as I have worked for Arabs before and been
"slipped" envelopes with cash inside.
This happened three more times over the next
three months totalling £1,500. I did raise an invoice for
my consultancy company and put the money as a fee through the
books.
I did telephone Sir Andrew and told him that
I feel I should give him a commission for the fee I had received
as was my practice with anyone who introduced me directly to
new business. He declined, and said that he was happy to have
helped and that it would not be proper for him to accept it. I
remember feeling embarrassed that I had asked him in the first
place and apologised. The fact that he would not accept any payment
from me is entirely in keeping with Sir Andrew's character.
- Your knowledge, if any, of payments of any
kind to Sir Andrew by Al-Fayed, whether actually received, or
requested by Sir Andrew, and the purpose of these paymentsI
I have no knowledge of any payments referred
to in the question directly. I do know that there was an Andrew
Bowden Fighting Fund, the purpose of which was to raise money
for both pre-election and election expenses. I now know that
a payment to Andrew Bowden Fighting Fund was made by Ian Greer
and Associates which I believe was used to buy office equipment
and some of the monies went towards pre-election expenses.
- The services you provided to Mr Fayed
Having not met him I never provided Mr Fayed
with any "service" directly. However, during my discussions
with Royston Webb several scenarios were discussed whereby I
was able to outline the possible Lonrho response to actions and
statements planned by the Fayed Group. During the time I assisted
the Group I felt that I was overpaid. However, I thought my role
would develop as I became more aware of the background and history
of the Lonrho/Fayed campaign.
During the second month of my involvement with
Royston Webb he outlined the exposure that the Fayed organisation
was about to make (or indeed had made - I cannot recall) about
the stockpiling of amethysts in Luxembourg which Tiny Rowland
had acquired. The essence of the Fayed argument was that this
stockpile really was a company asset which should be declared
through the Lonrho accounts and thus the shareholders were being
cheated. I replied that I had heard this story but had never seen
anything to substantiate it. Mr Webb then produced file after
file of papers concerning two companies (I think call Blorg (?)
and a further company called Contango) of which Tiny Rowland
and his then Financial Director were signatories to. He also produced
copies of bank statements from the Luxembourg Bank where the
company accounts were held and showed me alleged evidence of
withdrawals by the then Lonrho Financial Director. I recall asking
how he had acquired - what were highly sensitive and confidential
papers. I was quite taken back by his reply - which I cannot recall
in detail - but it did involve the hiring of private detectives,
a break-in to the Luxembourg Bank, and what I consider to be
gross deception perpetrated on the Luxembourg Bank.
In only three or four meetings with Webb
over a relatively short space of time I was beginning to doubt
whether I should be involved at all with this organisation.
I was, however, now in the knowledge of what
appeared to have been a deception against the Lonrho shareholders.
I outlined what I knew about this matter to Sir Andrew, having
already written to him some months before about this (I omitted
to mention anything about the break-in and events in Luxembourg
that Webb was aware of) and Sir Andrew said that he had already
approached the appropriate Minister following my original letter
to him.
I was very disturbed at Mr Webb's totally conviction
that everything Fayed was good and anything Tiny Rowland was
bad. I remember thinking - and indeed still do - that a lawyer
of his experience should surely be able to take a step back and
be slightly more impartial and be able to recognise prejudice
- be it from one side or the other.
6. The reasons your services were eventually dispensed
with and the date and means by which that occurred
During my last meeting with Royston Webb, which
took place in early July and at which Sir Andrew was present,
much discussion took place between myself and Mr Webb about the
attacks an individual called Ms Pollard was making against Lonrho,
in particular against Tiny Rowland. She saw herself cheated by
Tiny Rowland out of what she considered to be her inheritance,
namely the income from the Wankel engine - the rights of which
were held by Lonrho. (I may be wrong in detail here - but that
is how I recall this matter.) She paraded outside the Cheapside
offices of Lonrho on a regular basis and outside the Lonrho AGM
holding placards and asking passing policemen to arrest Mr Rowland.
It was suggested that I should arrange to meet her and she would
enlighten me as to how "awful" Lonrho was. Mr Webb gave
me her contact number. I subsequently phoned her and arranged
to meet her at Victoria Station. When we met she introduced me
to a male "friend". I hailed a taxi for us to go to
lunch at my club. When her "friend" said "No -
not this taxi, that one", and hailed one himself, for us
to use it was clear to me that this was no "friend"
but a minder whom I suspected was provided for Ms Pollard by
the Fayed organisation. We had lunch and she outlined her case.
It was clear to me that she was not acting as a loner - but had
funds backing her. When pressed, she admitted that she was receiving
funds from the Fayeds themselves. In other words the Fayeds were
backing her campaign against Tiny Rowland.
I felt let down by Royston Webb for not disclosing
this. It appeared that I was out of my depth with so many "minders"
about the place, with tales of banks being broken into in Luxembourg
etc., copies of illegally obtained documents being shown to me,
I felt it was time to leave.
I telephoned Royston Webb the next morning from
my home in Brighton and he was very upset and rather rude about
my wishing to end the association with his organisation. I recall
him saying "we should have had Ms Pollard wired for sound"
I remember saying that wasn't necessary as her Fayed paid "minder"
was with her all the time.
I then telephoned Sir Andrew in his offices
the next day. I related what had happened and that I was severing
my connection with the Fayed organisation I also apologised if
this would cause him any embarrassment. It did not seem to effect
him one way or the other and we parted on good terms.
As a footnote I would add that Ms Pollard has
since publicly apologised to Mr Rowland and confirmed that she
was in the pay of the Fayeds.
I hope this answers all your queries. I give
the above information to the best of my recollection given the
lapse of 10 years since most of these events took place.
Should you have any further queries arising
out of the above or wish to see me personally please be assured
of my assistance to your inquiry at all times.
M Land
3 March 1997
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