Jeweler Was Told To Lie In Princess Diana Case

Maira Oliveira
All Headline News
Dec. 07, 2006

A key witness in the inquiry into the death of Britain's Princess Diana recently claimed police threatened him to change his evidence. Jeweler Alberto Repossi - who claims he sold Diana's lover Dodi Al Fayed an engagement ring the day before the couple were killed in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997 - alleges he was put under pressure by investigators to retract the statement he gave to Lord Stevens, who is leading the inquiry.

There is speculation that investigators did not want evidence that Diana and Dodi were to become engaged to be made public, as it would fuel conspiracy theories championed by Dodi's father Mohammed Al Fayed that the princess was murdered as part of a secret plot to prevent her from marrying a Muslim.

Repossi told Britain's Daily Express newspaper, "These are things which I am absolutely certain about. They warned me if anyone lied to Lord Stevens - and anyone could include the prime minister or even the secret service - then he had the power to get people sent to prison.

He added, "They kept repeating the warnings of the risk to my reputation and the bad press coverage I would get. But despite all this, I was not prepared to change what I'd said before because it was the truth."

Repossi's testimony - backed up by receipts and CCTV footage - reveals Dodi and Diana picked a $305,000 emerald and diamond ring from a range of engagement bands called "Did-Moi Oui" which means "Tell Me Yes" at his Monte Carlo jewelry store in August 1997.

Dodi - the son of Harrods owner, Mohammad Al Fayed - asked for the ring to be sent to Repossi's Paris branch so he could collect it on August 30.

Repossi said, "I strongly support any attempt to determine exactly what caused this terrible tragedy. Until now I thought I could play my part by co-operating fully with the

inquiry. But my treatment during the interviews has convinced me that they are not interested in establishing the truth."

He continued, "My real concern is that attempts were certainly made to get me to change

what I knew to be the truth. I believe they were doing this in order to support theories or conclusions they had already arrived at before they saw me. They only seemed interested in trying to show me I was lying."

The investigation is expected to conclude that the crash was an accident due to driver Henri Paul being under the influence of alcohol and driving over the speed limit.












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