Trustee rift forced Harrods sale

UK - Mohamed Al Fayed decided to sell Harrods after the pension scheme trustees refused to clear a dividend payment, it emerged yesterday.

In an interview with the London Evening Standard, the former department store owner said he became "completely disillusioned" after he spent three months attempting to extract a dividend.

Al Fayed said: "How this can happen? I've owned the place for 26 years. I have 5000 people to look after. We have a pension scheme which it is my duty to subsidise. Come every year, sometime £10m (US$14.5m), £20m, £30m I pay from the profits to be sure my pensioners have money to live.

"But it came just as a surprise that the government put a body in called pension trustee. I'm here every day, I can't take my profit because I have to take a permission of those bloody idiots."

He added: "I say is this right? Is this logic? Somebody like me? I run a business and I need to take bloody f***ing trustee's permission to take my profit."

Prior to the rift, Al Fayed was on record saying he would "put two fingers up" to anyone who attempted to prize the luxury goods store away from him.

However, he has since accepted an offer of about £1.5bn from Qatar Holding, the investment arm of the Qatar Investment Authority.

Harrods, the scheme trustees and the Al Fayed family refused to comment last night.