World Of Secrets - Al Fayed, Predator at Harrods: 2. Executive suite

Episode Date: September 19, 2024

Sophia is working in Harrods and is spotted by Mohamed Al Fayed. She’s handed an incredible career opportunity. Soon she moves to work with her billionaire boss in his executive suite. Not everything is as it seems.On the shop floor, Mohamed Al Fayed is known for the way he makes a dramatic entrance, flanked by security guards. “He’s coming, he’s coming”, staff call out, as they spring to attention. Celebrity customers in the 1990s, like pop superstar Michael Jackson, are shopping in the store. This season of World of Secrets is about sexual abuse, and includes descriptions which some listeners might find distressing. For a list of organisations in the UK that can provide support for survivors of sexual abuse, go to bbc.co.uk/actionline.Presented by Cassie Cornish-Trestrail and Shaimaa Khalil, and produced by Neal Razzell and Sally Abrahams. The editor is Matt Willis. It’s a Long Form Audio production for the BBC World Service.Special thanks to series consultant, Keaton Stone, director Erica Gornall and executive producer, Mike Radford.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Just a warning before we get started. This episode contains descriptions of sexual assault, which some listeners may find distressing. There was like a phone system that would go along and be like, he's coming, he's coming, he's coming. It's 1996. We're inside London's iconic shopping destination, Harrods, in the upmarket Knightsbridge district.

Department manager Tony Leeming is standing in a garish room with hieroglyphs on the walls and gold-painted sphinxes, some with the face of the shop's owner, billionaire businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed. Genuinely, the phone's on ring. He's coming, he's coming. Tony's job is to make sure everything runs smoothly in the Egyptian hole. In many ways, the spiritual heart of Al-Fayed's Harids. And when his boss comes down from the executive office to inspect the shop floor, he knows one thing, He must act fast.

He puts down the phone and gives the order. Light the incense. It was highly expensive. It would cost hundreds and hundreds of pounds. The incense is traditionally lit to ward off evil spirits and to make the Egyptian hall smell more... Egyptian, I guess. The next sign the boss is coming. make the Egyptian hall smell more... Egyptian, I guess.

The next sign the boss is coming. Pipers in kilts. The bagpipers were security guards in the Egyptian hall. Perhaps not the most authentic Egyptian sound, but no matter. Thayed is a fan, and so the Pipers play. Tony knows Al-Fayed is near when his close security team appears. Big guys with tough faces, short hair and earpieces. The unspoken message, power and intimidation.

You'd see the security guards coming, and then he would come through, sweep through, just looking around. This is always a moment of high jeopardy for Tony and everyone else who works at Harrods. You must at least look busy. If you weren't, then you run the risk of being summary dismissed. But Al-Fayed's customers wouldn't know that. For them, he's all smiles. Especially the celebrities. And there's no shortage of those at Harrods. Tony keeps a list of the ones he's served over his decade there.

Piers Brosnan, Prince Charles, Pele, Muhammad Ali, Demi Moore, Bruce Willis, Salt-N-Bruni, the Spice Girls. Mostly take that. But even for them, Al-Fayed could have two faces. Take Michael Jackson, one of the most famous men on the planet. Muhammad Al-Fayed had someone latched onto him, so he was appearing, it was everywhere.

In all the press, it was Muhammad Al-Fayed and someone latched onto him, so he was appearing, it was everywhere. In all the press, it was Mohamed Al-Fayed and Michael Jackson, which was super weird because they were not the type of people you'd expect to be together. It was the king of pop with the king of pomp. One day in April 1999, Al-Fayed even closes Harrods so Jackson can shop in private. And he came down to the Egyptian Hall. Now, the lower ground floor of the Egyptian Hall was a bit strange, in a way.

On the one hand, we had this fabulous and expensive Lalique sort of crystal. And on the other hand, we had Egyptian ornaments. And when I say Egyptian ornaments, it's the type of thing that you could buy by the side of the road in Cairo. It was mini sphinxes and mini Tutankhamun masks and stuff like this. Real tat. 100% tat. As an Egyptian, I know exactly where you buy this stuff. It's in all the touristy areas you'd expect. In kiosks outside museums, or by the pyramids in the Valley of the Kings.

outside museums, or by the pyramids, in the Valley of the Kings. We always warn visitors against them. Or we tell them to haggle hard. But there is no haggling in Harrods. You'd think a friend would steer a friend away from Tat, but Al-Thayyid steers Jackson right towards it. Mohammed walked around, and he basically was saying to Michael, I've got this, it's brilliant, it's this sort of Egyptian sphinx,

and it's £5,000. Then he sold it to him and he took it and it was worth £50. Not satisfied with his £5,000 sale, more than US$8,000, Al-Fayed goes further. One display has what looks like a golden throne. I don't think it would even take anyone's weight. And he sold that to Michael as this gold, amazing throne, and it wasn't, it was just prop and painted gold, and it was something like £10,000, £15,000 he charged him, and it wasn't it was just prop and painted gold and it was something like 10 15 000 pounds

he charged him and it was worthless tony feels shock and guilt as the items are wrung through the till clearly when it comes to his boss all that glitters is not gold this is World of Secrets. Season four, Al-Fayed, Predator at Harrods, from the BBC World Service. A story about power and control at the top of British society. I'm Shaima Khalil. I'm Cassie Cornish-Trestrail. Episode two, Executive Suite. Mohammed Al-Fayed bought Harrods in 1985 for £615 million, or nearly US$700 million. In today's money, that's almost $1.5 billion.

It's 300 departments, 20 restaurants, and a staff of thousands spread over seven floors of prime London real estate. It's essentially a luxury retail theme park, and it's run by a team of professionals, like a woman we're calling Sarah, who begins working there in 1990. I fell, if I'm honest, by accident into HR, into recruitment, but I discovered I loved it. I discovered I was good at it. It was interesting, entertaining, sometimes really hard work. While some candidates are headhunted for certain roles,

most are filled by quite a standard recruitment process. Sarah spends her days crafting job ads, reviewing CVs, running interviews, all in a quest to find Harrods the best people. And there's no shortage of applicants. People would literally just turn up and wait at the door and you might have 100 people waiting for an an interview so it was pretty full-on. It's all about feeding the business with the talent it needs. The team that I worked with were very professional. We were focused on the

competence, the experience, how somebody did the job. But Sarah quickly realises that inside Harrods there's a special route to the top. From time to time I would get a call from one of Mr Mohammed's secretaries asking me about a specific sales assistant that Mr Mohammed had seen while he was walking the store and could I please either interview them for a job in his office or a specific role that was given to me to hire for? And that he would like to interview them. Wow. Sarah thinks. This is what the dynamic world of elite retail is all about.

But soon, she notices a trend. Mohamed Al-Fayed appears to have a roving eye. All the candidates referred to her by his office are young, attractive women. Fearing the worst, Sarah tries to steer candidates away or find reasons to make Al-Fayed's office lose interest. But she can't stop the requests from coming or prevent young women from seizing an opportunity. The very first time I met Mohamed,

I remember exactly where I was. I was standing in women's wear and I think I'd just been tidying up a rack of clothes. It's 1988. Safiya is 20 and has only just joined Harrods. You knew he was coming because the bodyguards were there. And then there he was walking towards me. He was quite smiley and friendly and he came up to me and said, hello, how are you doing?

You know, and I was like, hi. He's a little bit nervous and just sort of like, why is he talking to me kind of thing. Good job, he says. Then he and his guards move on. The whole exchange lasts but a moment. The next day, Sophia gets a call. Mr. Al-Fayed wants to see you. So nervously gathering her things, she goes up to his executive suite on the top floor. He said, what do you want to do? And I said, I want you to be a buyer. He's going, oh, I can make that happen for you. I can make anything happen for you. Come and work for me.

Come and work at the chairman's office. Despite having only worked at Harrods for a few weeks, Sophia's been hoping for an opportunity like this for years. She would travel up to London with her mom to buy new stock for her clothes shop. Sophia loved it and always knew she wanted to work in fashion and be a buyer. The person who spots trends, builds relationships with suppliers and above all,

knows better than customers themselves what they'll want to wear next season. It's a hugely competitive role, the kind that will usually take years of hard work and a healthy dose of luck to land. But now, here's the chairman of one of the world's most famous stores right in front of her, and he's offering it on a platter. So, I mean, what can you say? Yes, yes, great, thank you. And that was it. I started the next day. There was no transitional period. It was just, that was it.

You come and work for me? OK, yes, that was it. I started the next day. There was no transitional period. It was just, that was it. You come and work for me? OK, yes, that's it. Next day I was working for him in the chairman's office. Fast forward nearly 20 years to 2007, and Mohamed El Fayed's walkabouts still take him all through Harrods. Not just the shop floor, but the offices behind the scenes. When I first met him, I was a bit shocked when he came up to the desk because I'd only ever seen him on the television and in newspapers. This is Gemma, a 24-year-old personal assistant, or PA,

to a Harrods director, whose job it is to oversee a certain section of the store. Like Safaya, she's never had a job like this before. And like Sophia, she can't believe her luck to be working at this British icon. She's a small-town girl who's only been with the company a short while. When I first started, I was absolutely blown away by Harrods. It was like walking into Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. Having the chairman walk up to your desk and chant, well, it's all part of the anything is possible vibe, she figures. Then?

One of his HR team approached me and said, the chairman would like you to work in his office, which obviously came out of the blue for me because I hadn't applied for the job. Before Harrods, Gemma worked for a charity. His HR team had told me that there was a position open within his charitable foundation and that he wanted me to work with them on that. So obviously having come from a charity background and wanting to be a PA, it seemed like a perfect match for me.

But Gemma is sceptical. She likes her current role and her current boss. She tells him about Al-Fayed's offer. He says, don't take it. Though he doesn't say why. Gemma doesn't quite know what to do. She tells HR she needs time to think about it. There was pressure for me to do the role.

I don't think I really had a choice. So she accepts the offer. It is an amazing chance to develop her career after all. But Gemma and Sophia are about to learn that in Mohamed El-Fayed's Harrods, opportunities come at a price. What do Tiger Woods, Mark Zuckerberg and Taylor Swift all have in common? Well, their lives and fortunes are all being discussed on Good Bad Billionaire, the podcast exploring the minds, motives and the money of some of the world's wealthiest individuals. I'm Zing Zing, and each week my co-presenter Simon Jack and I take a closer look at the world's mega rich and we try to decide whether they're good, bad or just another

billionaire. From celebs and CEOs to spot stars and tech titans, find out how billionaires made their money and how they use it. Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. All episodes of season one and two are available now wherever you get your BBC podcasts and click follow or subscribe so you never miss a new episode. So picture this. Almost 20 years apart, we have two young women with the same hopes and dreams for a bright future.

Both being offered this incredible role. Safaya in 1988 and Gemma in 2007. They're entering Mohamed El Fayed's executive suite for the first time to work as one of his personal assistants. Joining, it turns out, a team of young, attractive women. Gemma remembers it well. My first day in the chairman's office was quite scary, to say the least. It's a completely different situation to working in the store. You're in a very secluded office on the very top floor. It's security to get in, security to get out, a series of different offices and corridors. So, you know, it's a bit of a minefield to get in. She's told, hand over your phone.

No personal communication is allowed of any kind. No personal items on the desks. It's luxurious. Wood panelling on the walls, shelves lined with leather-bound books, ornate furniture topped with exquisite flower arrangements. There are meeting rooms, lounges, offices, and the security team, which is watching over all of it.

But it feels isolated. The first time I went into the security office and took in a cup of tea for one of the security guys, I was shocked to see all the monitors. And you could see all over the office, and just they were watching. I said, oh, my God, you can see, you know, the other girls going up and down, other things going on. So I was like, oh, my God, there's cameras everywhere. At the heart of the executive suite sits Mohamed Alfaid's

lavish personal office. A grand set of double wooden doors welcomes visiting VIPs out of the main lobby. Safaya, Jemma and the other PAs use a private entrance off to the side. The layout of his office was, I would say, almost like a house. He had his own kitchen, he had his own private office that had a bathroom with a shower in it. I found it very strange that he had a shower in his office. It was bizarre. I don't know why he would have had one, especially given he lived so close to the store,

why he would need a shower in his office. Sophia remembers the bathroom too, and the candles. Always the same French brand of candles. Well, I always smelt of Roger and Gellé candles and always had soft music playing. One of the first things he asked very early on, do you have a boyfriend? And I said, no, no.

And he said, that's good, that's good. You know, you don't need a boyfriend. He'd sort of go, boyfriend's a trouble. I'll look after you. I'll look after you. This is one of Altheid's most common phrases. Call me Papa. Papa, come to Papa.

You say, come to Papa. He used to say all the time, only trust me. You only trust me. I'll look after you. You know, come to Papa. Papa will look after you. And then there are the hugs. Lingering, unwelcome hugs. It's a little creepy, Safaya thinks. But maybe that's just how he is.

Old school., paternal. He is looking out for her. There is money for clothes, shoes, perfume and more. He said he could offer a flat, he could offer a car. He wanted to make sure I had the very best of everything. He wanted to give me a head start. He seemed like he really cared for me and wanted to look after me, almost in a fatherly way. And, you know, quite overwhelming and just seemed extremely generous and caring. Gemma is also offered a flat. She's young and still on a starting salary.

London is so expensive, so this is the Holy Grail. And Harrods is in Knightsbridge, one of the most expensive neighbourhoods, not only in the city, but anywhere on the planet. Having a flat rent-free would be an absolute game-changer. And yet, Sophia and Gemma resist the offer. Initially, at least. But Al-Fayed insists. It feels like a requirement. Another unexpected requirement for Gemma is a medical. It seems like yet another perk, but she's shocked when the Harrods doctor, Wendy Snell, turns it into an invasive gynaecological exam. She did my smear test and then she went on to check my ovaries, which I'm still confused about to this day. I don't know

why anyone would need to do that for an admin role. It's painful, very painful. And to top it off, the doctor sends Gemma's report first, not to her, but to Mohamed El-Fayed. Listen to what it says. The doctor advised me that I should no longer sleep with my long-term boyfriend at the time, the reason being that she thought I had some kind of sexually transmitted disease that I didn't have actually at the time, and neither did he.

But it was written in the report that I should no longer have sexual contact with my long-term boyfriend. Gemma is shocked. Can that be right? She begins to doubt herself but needs to be sure. So she makes an appointment with her own doctor who says there is absolutely nothing wrong with her. So a Harrods doctor has either misdiagnosed her or made something up. Either way, why would she share this most personal, private information with Al-Fayed? For all of Harrods' formality and elegance, Mohamed Al-Fayed's workplace behaviour is lewd and crass. It's straight out of the worst of 1990s lads' culture. A time when sexism goes mainstream.

When a topless woman appears every day on page three of Britain's best-selling newspaper, The Sun. When loaded, a magazine devoted to sex, beer and football is a big hit. And when men behaving badly, becomes a top-rated TV comedy. In some ways, Al-Fayed embodies it all. Laughing as he hands out blue pills he says are Viagra to men. Laughing as he puts his hands all over women. He used to make it quite jokey when it was a group of people, almost like, look at me,

look what I can do. And I guess the girls, all being young girls, would just kind of giggle it off and carry on with their day. Within days of starting in Al-Fayed's executive suite, he promotes Gemma again, this time to senior personal assistant. Now she'll be spending more time with him, one-on-one. That was the point at which I would have to enter his private office on my own, with the door closed. That's where things would start to happen. It was supposed to be a time where I'd run through his schedule with him

and talk to him about appointments and things he wanted to achieve that day, but it actually wasn't. It was a time that he would use to try and do various things. He comments on her appearance, grabs her by the crotch and asks whether she's on her period, asks does she want to shower with him. On an occasion he asked me to put his shoes on

and while I was on the floor putting his shoes on he'd reach down and grab me. He'd sit with his zip undone and ask me to touch his genitals. It was always an occasion for him to do something, whether it be verbal or physical. Gemma is disgusted, repulsed and, crucially, innocent. She's not asked for this kind of attention in the workplace. But she still thinks maybe this is just Elfide's sick sense of humour. thinks maybe this is just Elphide's sick sense of humour. Sophia, his PA

from the late 80s, early 90s, is also confused when she starts getting time alone in his office. It's not just hugs anymore. What she's about to say is difficult to hear. When he first started to sort of

encroach on me and try and kiss me and cuddle me, I was a bit like, oh, God, obviously, you're going like that, go away, what are you doing? And sort of, kind of sort of laugh, sort of nervously laugh. And he'd laugh it off as well, he'd sort of pretend it was a joke. And, yeah, I didn't know what to think to start with and I was a bit confused, very confused. Just remember coming out of his office thinking, what just happened there? You know, just sort of like, whoa. Yeah.

Odd. I don't know what to think. It's like one minute he's saying he's going to protect me and look after me and he's like a dad or a father and then next minute he's trying to kiss me and I don't know what to think and I didn't know what to do. I didn't know to talk to anyone about it or what to say. I was just really confused. One minute I thought I had everything. I thought I had my career and my job and everything

and then the next minute he's making me feel like, I don't know, just uncomfortable and scared. And then I had to come out of the office after he was trying to kiss me and pretend I was all happy and everything was fine. And my head was scrambled. And I carried on doing it because I didn't have anything else. I had to pay the rent, I had to live. I didn't have anywhere else to go.

I didn't know what to do. I was scared. Can I stop? Of course. When I recorded with her, it was clear how raw this still is over 30 years later. It was definitely time to pause the interview. years later. It was definitely time to pause the interview. I've spoken with more than 20 women who work with Mohamed Al-Fayed. Many have similar stories of swift promotions leading swiftly to abuse. They also talk about what kept them there and what prevented them from speaking out. And while every woman's story is her own,

a theme emerges down the years. Al-Faid rules through a culture of fear, intimidation and control. Listen to Gemma. There are a number of occasions where I went to talk about something to other girls and they would shake their heads and say, no, don't speak, don't speak. girls and they would shake their heads and say, no, don't speak, don't speak. Remember, the security team has eyes and ears on almost everything. Do you think the fact that everything was sort of failed and there were these cameras created this culture of silence and fear to speak?

I think it did. Having the fear that you're constantly being watched and recorded made you question everything you said, your actions. We moved around the office without stepping a foot out. You know, it made us not talk to each other, even though there were five girls in the office all day. It was very apparent that the conversation would always be about something light-hearted makeup or you know just general chit-chat we never spoke about what he did what he was doing what we thought how we felt nothing with that was ever discussed jemma sophia and the other women told me how they developed strategies to deal with alfired's abuse trying to limit one-on-ones beginning meetings by saying they have another one in a few minutes.

Holding a large notepad across their chest. Positioning furniture between them. Standing near exits. And so on. But the job is to be close to him, even when he's not in his executive suite. As a billionaire, he has a portfolio of properties across Europe and business interests around the world. And on the road, there are even fewer limits to his behaviour. The only thing that he was interested in was touching my body.

I was kicking and screaming, get off, get off, and I kicked him off, I kicked him off. What would you do in that situation if you're in a huge, scary house surrounded by security? What do you do? You've got nowhere to go that's next time on world of secrets you've been listening to episode two of season four of world of secrets alfayed predator at harrods It's a long-form audio production for the BBC World Service.

It's presented by me, Cassie Cornish-Trestrail. And me, Shaima Khalil. The producers are Neil Rizal and Sally Abrahams. The editor is Matt Willis. Special thanks to series consultant

Keaton Stone and director Ericarika Gornal If you've been affected by any of the issues in this series please contact support organisations in your own country For a list of organisations in the UK that can provide support for survivors of sexual abuse go to bbc.co.uk forward slash action line. We'd love our investigations to reach as many of you as possible.

So please leave a rating and a review and do tell others about World of Secrets. It really helps. For just as long as Hollywood has been Tinseltown, there have been suspicions about what lurks behind the glitz and glamour. Concerns about radical propaganda in the motion pictures. And for a while, those suspicions grew into something much bigger and much darker. Are you a member of the Communist Party? Or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party? I'm Una Chaplin, and this is Hollywood Exiles.

It's about a battle for the political soul of America, and the battlefield was Hollywood. All episodes of Hollywood Exiles, from the BBC World Service and CBC, are available now. Search for Hollywood Exiles, wherever you get your podcasts.