Thursday, September 19, 2024 - Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al Fayed, whose son Dodi died alongside Princess Diana in a 1997 car crash in Paris, has been accused of r@pe by multiple women.
In a BBC expose, the women said the Harrods founder s£xually
assaulted them.
In the expose titled “Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods,” which
drops on BBC iPlayer and BBC Two today, September 19, more than 20 women put
forward allegations of r@pe, attempted r@pe, s£xual assault and female
violence.
The majority of the women making the allegations are former
employees at Harrods, the luxury British department story Al Fayed owned for 26
years.
They worked there between the late 1980s and 2000s and the
assaults are alleged to have occurred in London and Paris, where he owned the
Ritz hotel as well as a historic villa once belonging to Edward VIII.
Al Fayed d!ed last year at the age of 94.
According to the documentary, police investigated a r@pe
allegation in 2015 but did not press charges. One woman said she went to police
in 2018 but was told that Al Fayed, who had dementia, was too old to be
prosecuted.
Thirteen women told the BBC they were s£xually assaulted at
a block of apartments in Park Lane, where Al Fayed would often offer female
employees working late a place to stay. Four alleged that they were r@ped.
A further nine women said they were s£xually assaulted in
Paris, with five women alleging attempted r@pe while one woman said she was
r@ped.
The documentary also includes testimony from colleagues,
including a senior manager at Harrods who said Al Fayed’s behavior was “known
around the whole company.”
According to the BBC, not only did Harrods fail to
intervene, they “helped cover up allegations of s£xual abuse.” In July 2023,
they say, Harrods began settling claims with some of the women.
A number of women are now preparing legal claims against the
department store.
In a statement, Harrods told the BBC they are “utterly
appalled by the allegations of abuse perpetrated by Mohamed Al Fayed”, which
they “condemn in the strongest possible terms.”
“We also acknowledge that during this time as a business we
failed our employees who were his victims and for this we sincerely apologize.”
Al Fayed sold Harrods to the Qatari royal family in 2010 for
a reported £1.5 billion.
After his son Dodi’s de@th, he installed a memorial to Dodi
and Diana in the store, which included a wine glass said to be from their last
dinner together, a ring he claimed Dodi had proposed to the princess with and a
copper statue of the couple holding a bird.
0 Comments