The London police said on Friday that another 40 women have made allegations of rape or sexual harassment by the late owner of Harrods, Mohamed Al Fayed, since the reports of former employees of the London store were broadcast by the BBC last month.
The Metropolitan Police Force said it received allegations “relating to 40 surviving victims and cases of sexual abuse and rape” that occurred between 1979 and 2013.
More than 21 women went to the police between 2005 and 2023 with allegations of sexual crimes against this businessman. He was never prosecuted and died last year at the age of 94.
Police have urged Al Fayed’s victims and anyone with information about the crimes to come forward. Commander Stephen Clayman said detectives will review the information “to see if there are any criminal suspects that can be pursued.”
Get the latest country news
For news that affects Canada and the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you as they happen.
The police and Harrods management are facing questions about why no action was taken when Al Fayed was alive. He was questioned by detectives in 2008 over allegations of sexually abusing a 15-year-old child, and in 2009 and 2015 police passed evidence files on him to the Crown Prosecution Service. He has never been charged.
Harrods’ current managing director, Michael Ward, said last month that the store was “deeply sorry” for the failing staff. He said it was clear that Al Fayed “presided over a toxic culture of cover-up, intimidation, fear of backlash and sexual misconduct.”
Al Fayed’s family has not commented.
The Egyptian-born businessman moved to Britain in the 1960s and bought Harrods, a department store in London’s tony Knightsbridge district, in the mid-1980s. Al Fayed sold Harrods in 2010 to a Qatari-owned company through its private equity fund, the Qatar Investment Authority.
He became a household name through his ownership of a shop and London football club Fulham. He often made headlines after his son Dodi was killed alongside Princess Diana in a car accident in Paris in 1997.
Al Fayed has spent years promoting the theory that the royal family planned the accident because they did not allow Diana to marry an Egyptian.
The investigation concluded that Diana and Dodi died due to the negligent actions of their driver – an employee of the Ritz hotel in Paris owned by Al Fayed – and the paparazzi chasing the couple. Separate inquiries in the United Kingdom and France also concluded that there was no conspiracy.
© 2024 The Canadian Press