Harrods, now beneath Qatari possession, problems apology for abuse of energy when retailer used to be beneath al-Fayed’s regulate.Thirty-seven ladies have accused the past due Mohamed al-Fayed, former boss of the London division retailer Harrods, of rape and sexual attack as their legal professionals say they be expecting “many extra” to return ahead with civil claims.
Talking at a information convention in London on Friday, legal professionals representing the ladies described the Egypt-born businessman, who died closing yr on the age of 94, as a “monster” who abused girls and women he hired throughout the 25 years that he owned the high-end retailer from 1985 to 2010.
The allegations in opposition to al-Fayed had been made public through the BBC in a documentary referred to as Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods, aired on Thursday, and the community’s Global of Secrets and techniques podcast, by which greater than 20 ladies alleged that he assaulted and used to be bodily violent in opposition to them at houses in London, Paris, St Tropez and Abu Dhabi.
One in every of al-Fayed’s accusers who went through the identify Natacha mentioned on the information convention that the billionaire businessman used to be “extremely manipulative” and “preyed at the maximum prone, the ones folks who had to pay the hire and a few folks who didn’t have oldsters to give protection to them”.
In July 2023, Harrods, which used to be offered in 2010 to the funding arm of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, started settling claims with ladies who got here ahead alleging sexual abuse through al-Fayed.
The shop’s present homeowners issued an apology in a observation to the BBC documentary, announcing they had been “totally appalled” through the allegations of abuse.
“As a industry we failed our workers who had been his sufferers and for this we sincerely apologise,” they mentioned.
“Whilst we can’t undo the previous, now we have been made up our minds to do the correct factor as an organisation, pushed through the values we grasp these days, whilst making sure that such behaviour can by no means be repeated at some point.”
The dep. retailer is a “very other organisation” to the only owned and regulated through al-Fayed, they mentioned, describing the alleged crimes as “the movements of a person who used to be intent on abusing his energy”.
A view of the Harrods division retailer in London [Mina Kim/Reuters]
At Friday’s media match, lead attorney Dean Armstrong queried Harrods’s declare that it knew not anything concerning the allegations till closing yr.
“We’re right here to mention publicly and to the sector, or to Harrods in entrance of the sector, that it’s time that they took duty, and it’s time that they set issues proper, and that’s one thing they will have to do once imaginable,” he mentioned.
Legal professional Bruce Drummond mentioned survivors got here from everywhere the sector.
“Complainants got here from Malaysia, Australia, Italy, Romania, the USA and Canada whilst one used to be simply 16 when she used to be allegedly assaulted,” he mentioned.
American attorney Gloria Allred, who has represented sufferers in probably the most maximum infamous sexual abuse circumstances lately, together with the ones relating to Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein, mentioned many ladies had dreamed of running at “essentially the most stunning retailer on this planet”.
“Alternatively, beneath the Harrods glitz and glamour used to be a poisonous, unsafe and abusive surroundings,” she mentioned.
