Jon Brilliant, who worked in Fayed’s private office for 18 months, claimed his former boss would sack those he could not control…reports Asian Lite News
A former Harrods director has claimed he was handed envelopes of cash by Mohamed Al Fayed as part of the billionaire’s plan to control and manipulate senior management and cover up alleged incidents of sexual abuse.
Jon Brilliant, who worked in Fayed’s private office for 18 months, claimed his former boss would sack those he could not control. Managers were let go or quit so often that a national newspaper began to publish a regular count, which reached 48 in 2005, he said.
Brilliant, who was 36 when he joined the firm in 2000, told BBC News he was one of those targeted by Fayed, who would offer him cash to try to compromise him.
He described surveillance and sackings of senior staff, in a culture designed to keep them from trusting or communicating with each another. “I 100% can see how the management structure and culture was set up to cover [Fayed’s abuse] up, mask it from people,” the BBC quoted him as saying.
Brilliant told the broadcaster Fayed plied him with envelopes full of cash – totalling about $50,000 (£39,000) – to try to control him. And that colleagues warned him Al Fayed was trying to get him to compromise himself.
“He was trying to get you to come back and say ‘Oh, I spent money on drugs or I spent money frolicking, doing something that I shouldn’t have been doing’, and that he would then use that information against you if you should ever turn on him … I am certainly aware of people who … succumbed to the temptation.”
Four other former directors have anonymously confirmed elements of Brilliant’s claims, BBC News reported. “He tried to own you. And ultimately, I got fired because I couldn’t be bought,” he said.
Brilliant said he was “horrified” when he first heard the allegations Fayed had abused hundreds of women. The former Harrods and Fulham FC owner is accused of sexual offences against dozens of women and girls, but was never charged while he was alive. He died last year aged 94.
On Thursday, the Metropolitan police said it had launched an investigation into more than five people who may have “facilitated” his alleged crimes. An internal review is also being carried out into how the force handled claims about Fayed while he was alive.
Since the latest publicity around the case, 90 alleged victims have contacted the Metropolitan police to say they fell prey to him, in addition to 21 alleged victims who had already contacted the force.
The youngest of the 90 is thought to have been 13 years old at the time she was reportedly abused, and the alleged crimes include rape and sexual assault.
Fayed bought Harrods for £615m in 1985 and sold it to the Qatari royal family for a reported £1.5bn in 2010.
Harrods has not responded to a request for comment. It has previously said: “This was a shameful period of the business’s history, however, the Harrods of today is unrecognisable to Harrods under [Fayed’s] ownership.”
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