Former Owner, Former Harrods
Mohamed Al-Fayed: His version of Lady Di's death at Thierry Ardisson's | INA Arditube
Subscribe http://bit.ly/InaArdiTube
Everyone's Talking About It | France 2 | 04/15/2000
Thierry Ardisson receives Mohamed Al-Fayed and John Macnamara, his head of security, via live link from London to present their theory on the deaths of Dodi and Lady Diana.
Mohamed Al-Fayed and John Macnamar explain their point of view: It was a royal family conspiracy. He denounces the complicity of the French intelligence services and the laxity of the investigators.
Thierry Ardisson reiterates that this version is their own; the facts have not been verified, as the investigation has not yet reached its...
About Mohamed Al-fayed
Mohamed Al-Fayed has continued to assert that the deaths of his son Dodi and Princess Diana in 1997 were not an accident but a murder plot. He has stated that the British royal family, with the involvement of MI6 and French intelligence, orchestrated the deaths, citing racism as the motive because his son was Egyptian. He has called members of MI6 "terrorists" and said the royal family is "not above the law," while also criticizing Diana's mother, Frances Shand Kydd, calling her "not a good mother." In 2008, he described the royal family as a "Dracula family" and alleged that Prince Philip ordered the killing and that Prince Charles participated in it. Al-Fayed has also spoken about his business ventures. He described Harrods as "my pyramid" and said he fell in love with the store at age 14. In 2013, he sold Fulham Football Club, which he owned for 18 years, to Shahid Khan, saying it was time for him to rest and spend time with his grandchildren. He expressed gratitude to the club's fans and said he would continue to attend matches.
Transcript (31 segments)
I
Interviewer0:04
Good evening, Mr. Al-Fayed. Thank you for accepting to answer everyone's questions. You are accompanied by John McNamara and your head of security. But before we converse with you, first a reminder of the facts.
So regarding this case, a judgment was rendered in September 1999 which concluded it was a car accident due to the blood alcohol level of the Mercedes driver, Henri Paul. Since the beginning, you, Mr. Al-Fayed, you don't believe it and you speak of a conspiracy, an organized murder by the British Crown, aided by the English, American, and French secret services. And what would be the motive for this crime or these crimes?
M
Mohamed Al-fayed1:20
The motive for this crime is absolute racism. The Royal Family and the establishment in this country created racism everywhere in the world. And the person who would never accept my son as an Egyptian. Because you must understand that it was about the future father-in-law of the future King of England, and that is the reason, that is the motive.
And the person who organized it, and who paid out of his own pocket, is Prince Philip. When he was a child, he spent a lot of time in Germany. There was a marriage with two of Hitler's generals in this family. That is enough as an explanation. And this person grew up in a Nazi environment. Consequently, you see that the marriages were compromising. No one really knows why and how it happened.
I
Interviewer2:47
But Mr. Al-Fayed, in England, the press calls you, for example, 'the Egyptian' or 'the Sheik of Arabia', even though you are the 14th fortune in the country. You are a victim of a certain racism. But there was also Diana's struggle against the English court. She had declared that Charles, the future King of England, was incapable of governing. And it's true that against the backdrop of a monarchical crisis in England, it was a problem. Besides, James Hewitt, who was Lady Di's lover, stated that the Princess had received threats. And one can say he has nothing to gain by revealing this. In any case, it's exactly as we saw in other programs or interviews on television. It's exactly how it happened.
M
Mohamed Al-fayed3:35
No one could approach Diana. This woman suffered throughout her entire married life. She suffered with Prince Charles. Prince Charles brought her no love, no family life, no attention. She lived a life of atrocious facts. She lived in a framework that was too narrow, too formal for her.
I
Interviewer4:05
Mr. Al-Fayed, we were impatiently waiting for the book of the sole survivor of the accident, the bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones. Indeed, he had been rendered amnesiac by the accident. Now he has recovered his memory, but unfortunately he no longer remembers the ten minutes preceding the tragedy at the Alma bridge, and doesn't even remember the route. On the other hand, you demonstrate that he lies in his book about the ring your son Dodi Al-Fayed gave to Princess Diana. And these facts confirm our opinion: the bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones was turned by the secret services.
M
Mohamed Al-fayed4:56
I had my eye on seven people for four months. Without me, he would not be alive today. He worked for me for five years. I trusted him as a bodyguard. And he left me suddenly with two other bodyguards. So three bodyguards left me from one day to the next. In the context of normal human relations, that wouldn't happen. There would be at least a certain gratitude. So without any reason, it happened like that, from one day to the next.
We feared he would recover his memory. But we know very well that Henri Paul, who worked for the secret services, who worked for them for three years, served MI6. Because all this is very delicate, all this information. So you see, you can turn people. That's how it happened.
I
Interviewer6:10
Mr. Al-Fayed, you say that on the day of the accident, August 30, 1997, your son Dodi announced his engagement to Princess Diana to you, and it would have been made official on September 1st of the same year. Trevor Rees-Jones completely denies this. He says it's not true, it was only a summer romance.
M
Mohamed Al-fayed6:33
That's what he was told to say. Do you think my son would discuss his relationship with a bodyguard? We can obviously make all the assumptions or all the hypotheses we want.
I
Interviewer6:56
With this country, Mr. Al-Fayed, you have had relations with the media, the Daily Telegraph and others. There are hundreds of articles. No one can know the facts. No one can know what happened directly. It's my son, I lost my son, and it was a conspiracy.
Mr. Al-Fayed, now we arrive at a very precise point. Trevor Rees-Jones, the bodyguard, said in his book that Dodi Al-Fayed, your son, had never bought rings for Princess Diana. However, by court injunction, you obtained a request from the jeweler Alberto Repossi on Place Vendôme, and the jeweler produced not only an invoice for the ring dated August 30, 1997, but also a video showing your son Dodi Al-Fayed entering the store.
M
Mohamed Al-fayed7:57
Exactly. There are many lies. There are a lot of fabrications. The secret services made everyone say all sorts of things. And I would like Mr. McNamara to explain the details to you, because he was responsible at the time, and to give you the details of what exactly happened regarding the ring and with Alberto Repossi.
J
John McNamara8:19
Good evening. I can explain that everything Trevor Rees-Jones said in his book was the subject of manipulation aimed at proving there was no engagement. You must know that Trevor Rees-Jones did not see Dodi or Diana enter the jewelry store the day before the fatal accident. The reality is that they went window shopping. In the window of the jeweler Alberto Repossi, they saw a magnificent ring. It was in Monaco. In reality, what happened at that moment is that the ring was sent to Paris. Dodi Al-Fayed picked up the ring from Alberto Repossi on Place Vendôme on August 30th in the evening. And Trevor Rees-Jones would have accompanied Dodi Al-Fayed to the jeweler to pick up the ring. But the book is a manipulation, the facts are distorted to demonstrate that there was no ring.
I
Interviewer9:30
Thank you. What I want to say, we understand very well, Mr. McNamara. We will now move on to other obscure points of the file on which I would ask you to intervene very briefly to support Mr. Al-Fayed. So the other obscure points of the file: first, the death during the accident of Mr. Al-Fayed's son, Dodi Al-Fayed. He died on the spot in the accident. But Princess Diana was still alive after the crash. She had an internal hemorrhage, no one diagnosed it, and it took 100 minutes to get her to the hospital. Do you think there was, from the paramedics who took care of her, either involuntary negligence or voluntary negligence?
M
Mohamed Al-fayed10:12
Yes, there was a deliberate error. It took an hour, an hour and fifteen minutes to go from the Alma tunnel to the hospital. It's unthinkable. It's obvious they wanted to get rid of her.
I
Interviewer10:31
Why did they immediately say that Henri Paul was drunk at the wheel? There was Professor Lacombe, who was the doctor in charge. The blood of Henri Paul was not the blood of Henri Paul, it was the blood of someone else, because there were fifteen corpses at the morgue that evening. And I am certain that the blood analysis was based on the blood of someone else.
Yes, precisely. Mr. Al-Fayed, they found in the body of Henri Paul, the driver of the Mercedes, 30% carbon monoxide. With such a dose of carbon monoxide, anyway, someone cannot walk. So we wondered where this carbon monoxide came from. The counter-expertise analyses were refused for 48 hours. We wonder today if the carbon monoxide was not contained in the airbags of the Mercedes. Do you believe that?
M
Mohamed Al-fayed11:36
It's very simple. Our expert in the UK and another expert in Lausanne, Switzerland, demonstrated that this level of carbon monoxide could not have been found in Henri Paul's blood, especially when he was supposed to be alive. It's true, you are right, he could not have walked or even driven.
I
Interviewer11:54
Obviously, the explanation that surprised French doctors, toxicologists, and Professor Lacombe is that the carbon monoxide could certainly have come from the airbags and that Henri Paul inhaled it. But given that he died on the spot, he didn't have time to breathe. And Mercedes-Benz told us that the airbags do not contain carbon monoxide. No French pathologist expert can explain the presence of carbon monoxide in Henri Paul's blood. It's impossible. It was not his blood. And today, we do not have the possibility to examine, to carry out analyses which are still held by the French. The French categorically refuse to let our independent experts access the samples to carry out independent tests.
Thank you. Another obscure point of the file is the way the French police worked. The investigation was not conducted, in your opinion, very correctly. First, the accident scene was not preserved by the police. Then there was a white Fiat Uno seen by a witness which was not really searched for. And we never spoke either of the following motorcycle which would have made a fish-tail maneuver. The police never really searched for this following motorcycle which would have made a fish-tail maneuver to the Mercedes driven by Henri Paul. So, regarding the white Fiat, for example, do you have information on your side?
M
Mohamed Al-fayed13:37
Yes, a white Fiat whose owner was a Vietnamese. This car was tested by the French police. Paint samples from the Fiat were matched with the paint found on the Mercedes. This car had a dog's head on the back. That was confirmed, and it was confirmed by witnesses at the time. There are examinations that confirm that this car corresponds to the one that participated in the collision. However, they stopped there. The police and the magistrates responsible for their investigation stopped there, whereas in my opinion, the car was found, but they stopped there.
I
Interviewer14:25
So there are two points that effectively support Mr. Al-Fayed's theory. First, indeed, the ring, since this ring was indeed bought, it's a ring that was indeed bought at Alberto Repossi by Dodi Al-Fayed for his engagement to Princess Diana. There is another piece of information that was transmitted to Mr. Al-Fayed very recently by your Parisian lawyer: a French judge made a request to the American and British embassies because we believe that the number two of the secret services, MI6, was present in Paris on the night of August 30, 1997. Is that correct?
M
Mohamed Al-fayed15:06
It's exact. It was indeed the number two of MI6. What would the number two of MI6 be doing in Paris? We wonder. Richard Jackman. And there was another name: Nicholas Langham. Both were in Paris. Why did they go to Paris three weeks before the tragedy? No one knows.
I
Interviewer15:38
Aren't you ultimately leading this entire operation, first because it's quite natural, but also because as owner of the Ritz, you are the employer of Henri Paul, the driver. And so the British Crown or the Spencer family, Lady Di's family, could turn against you to sue you?
M
Mohamed Al-fayed15:58
That was life. They cannot sue me. Access to the proofs, the proofs exist. I hope the Court of Appeal will realize the situation. Without the French secret services, the British secret services would never have perpetrated this murder. I hope the Court of Appeal, the justice, because France is a great country. I have invested a lot, I love France, and I have a home in France. So I do not accept this situation, and I truly hope that the Court of Appeal will do me justice. And I am a father, a grieving father, and I am an individual who loves France. I employ a large number of people in France, and I do not want to be treated in France as I was treated in this country.
I
Interviewer16:54
Mr. Al-Fayed, two last questions. You are reproached for doing all this also out of vengeance against the English family because you are the 14th fortune in the country in Great Britain and you cannot obtain British nationality.
M
Mohamed Al-fayed17:07
That is nothing. It's not important for me. It's a simple formality. No, I don't want to take revenge. I don't have a spirit of vengeance. I am a grieving father following the death of his son. Any father who loves his son would do exactly the same as me. I have the certainty that my son was assassinated with Princess Diana, and the French secret services participated in this crime. And they are the main criminals who contributed to helping the British secret services. And I hope the French will realize this well, because it could happen to someone else living in France. We must not accept this.
Thank you very much for giving me the possibility to explain myself on the disappearance of my son and Princess Diana. Thank you.
I
Interviewer17:58
Thank you, Mr. Al-Fayed, for granting us this exclusive interview. Thank you very much, Mr. Al-Fayed. Thank you, Mr. McNamara. Of course, Mr. Al-Fayed's statements concerning the past of the British Royal Family and Diana herself constitute only his own version of the facts. To this day, even if questions remain, no official report or serious expertise has confirmed them. The Court of Appeal will rule definitively in two months on the causes of the accident. The corrections of Noury and T2, you are used to it, subscribe, put a blue thumb.