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At least 37 women from Australia, Malaysia, Italy, Romania, the United States and Canada have alleged that they were sexually abused by Al-Fayed. Some of the complainants were minors at the time, “aged just 15 and 16,” according to lawyers who have announced that they are taking legal action against Harrods.
The accusers are many former employees of Harrods, and some of the Ritz in Paris, which the businessman also owned. Al-Fayed “was a monster, a monster who was able to operate thanks to a system … set up and established by Harrods,” said lawyer Dean Armstrong KC, opening a press conference in London.
The store “firmly” condemns the behavior of its former owner
This press conference comes the day after the broadcast of a BBC investigation, entitled “Al-Fayed: a predator at Harrods”. Around twenty women testified in this documentary, five of them accusing him of rapes, committed in London or Paris, others denouncing attempted rapes and sexual assaults.
“We are pursuing Harrods and we are focusing on Harrods at this stage as a matter of collective corporate responsibility,” he said, adding that he had evidence that the actions were a repeat pattern.
“If Harrods management feel they should compensate these women financially… of course that is something we would welcome, but we will not accept being accused of being only interested in money. It is about much more than that,” he added.
On Thursday, the current management of the famous store, which came under Qatari control in 2010, “firmly” condemned the behavior of its former owner and apologized for having “let down the employees who were his victims.”
“A sick predator”
In London on Friday, lawyers for the accusers vowed to “obtain justice.” They also called on other potential victims to come forward. Gloria Allred, an American lawyer known for defending women’s rights in high-profile trials, including that of Jeffrey Epstein, stressed that “beneath the glitz and glamour” of the famous department store, there was “a toxic, dangerous and violent environment.”
Lawyer Dean Armstrong KC compared Al-Fayed to Epstein “because there was a procurement system in place to find the women” who would then be sexually assaulted. Mohamed Al-Fayed was “a sick predator,” said Natacha, one of the accusers. “I was so young, I didn’t know what to do or how to react,” she added, saying she was “no longer afraid.”
She recounts having undergone gynecological examinations imposed by the former owner of the department store and describes encounters with him: “his hands on my face” and “on my body.” “I was subjected to HIV screening tests and STI screening tests” (sexually transmitted infections), she said, specifying that she never received the results of said tests.
Like them, several other accusers were forced to take these tests, the lawyers revealed. “He was a monster even if we didn’t realize it at the time,” Natacha insisted. Mohamed Al-Fayed, born on January 27, 1929 in a modest suburb of Alexandria, Egypt, spent much of his life in Great Britain, where he became the owner of Harrods in 1985 and of the Fulham FC football club between 1997 and 2013.
According to the BBC, he had already been accused of similar acts and the police had opened an investigation in 2015 for rape. But the father of Princess Diana’s last lover, Dodi, who died with her in a car accident in Paris on August 31, 1997, has never been charged.
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