A senior diplomat has complained to the Government after Mohamed Al-Fayed sexually assaulted his daughter and imprisoned her on his yacht in the south of France.
The Mail on Sunday has learned that the disgraced billionaire, who died last year aged 94, reportedly locked the young woman in a cabin for 36 hours after the attack, described by a source as one of the worst he has committed. .
The influential envoy’s high-profile protest is understood to have dealt a significant blow to the tycoon’s hopes of gaining British citizenship.
At the time – 1989 – Al-Fayed, an Egyptian, was facing questions about his takeover of Harrods four years earlier.
A Department of Trade and Industry investigation described it as “unreliable, false and false”.
Mohamed Al-Fayed photographed sitting on his yacht in Saint Tropez, France, in 2009.
In one of the worst attacks he carried out, Al-Fayed is believed to have locked a young woman in the cabin of his yacht (pictured) for 36 hours after sexually assaulting her.
Alleged victim Lindsay Mason (centre) was told she needed to see a doctor before starting work at Harrods, and was given an “invasive examination”.
This was later reproached to him in his long campaign for a British passport.
But sources say the yacht assault, revealed today for the first time, also influenced the decision to reject his application in 1994, when John Major was Prime Minister.
Last week it emerged that Al-Fayed, an alleged serial predator, was reported to Scotland Yard by at least 19 different women for rape, assault and trafficking.
The alleged crimes were recorded by police between 2005 and 2023, but none led to charges.
The Metropolitan Police has called for more victims to come forward and is investigating whether charges could be brought against other people.
Many women interviewed for the BBC documentary Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods said that when they started working for Al-Fayed they were required to undergo medical examinations, including invasive sexual health tests.
Four male and female doctors performed the tests. The Ministry of Health can reveal that one of them, Dr Thomas Bozek, now 75, is still practicing. At the time, his then-wife, Alison Bozek, worked for Al-Fayed.
But on Friday it emerged that the General Medical Council (GMC) had refused to investigate alleged medical negligence at Harrods in 2017 because too much time had passed and it was not “in the public interest”.
Hired as Al-Fayed’s personal assistant, Lindsay Mason, now 55, was told she needed to see a doctor before starting work.
She told the Ministry of Health that Dr. Bozek performed “an invasive, unaccompanied examination” on me.
‘In addition to a cytology and tests for sexually transmitted infections, he also examined my ovaries. I didn’t receive any results; They went to Al-Fayed. I hope GMC starts an investigation.
