One of them was just 16 when she says she was attacked. Nearly 40 women have since Thursday accused Mohamed Al-Fayed of rape, attempted rape and sexual assault. Those accusing the former owner of Harrods Mohamed Al-Fayed, who died in 2023 at the age of 94, come from Malaysia, France, Canada and the United Kingdom.
20 Minutes takes stock of this scandal revealed by the BBC while most of the victims describe a “monster”, a “sexual predator”, an “intelligent and very manipulative” man.
Who is Mohamed Al-Fayed?
Mohamed Al-Fayed, born on January 27, 1929 in a modest suburb of Alexandria, spent much of his life in Britain, where he became the owner of Harrods in 1985 and the Fulham FC football club between 1997 and 2013. To his great frustration, the businessman was denied British citizenship several times. In 2000, the courts cited “a general problem of character.”
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.
Mohamed Al-Fayed also died the day before the anniversary of his son Dodi’s death. After the death of the Dodi-Diana couple, Mohamed Al-Fayed had repeatedly claimed that they had been assassinated as part of a plot by the British establishment. He accused Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip of ordering the fatal car accident.
The billionaire’s controversial relationship with the British royal family was recently depicted in season five of the series The Crownon Netflix. We see him try to get closer to the queen, then get to know Lady Di.
What does the BBC documentary say?
In the documentary Al-Fayed: a predator at Harrods broadcast on BBC Two on Thursday, five former employees of the London department store Harrods accuse their former boss, Mohamed Al-Fayed, of rape and several others denounce sexual assaults in a BBC investigation to be broadcast on Thursday. Around twenty women in total testify. Among them, some also accuse the former owner of the luxury store between the late 1980s and the 2000s of attempted rape and physical violence. An individual they describe as a “sexual predator”.
One of the victims, nicknamed Rachel, was 19 and said she stayed overnight at one of the Harrods boss’s apartments after he insisted she work late. He then allegedly invited her into his bedroom and sat her on his bed before grabbing her. “I made it clear I didn’t want this to happen. I didn’t consent… he raped me,” she said.
How many women today accuse Al-Fayed of sexual violence?
Since the BBC documentary aired, other women have come forward with their testimony. These five women accuse him of rape, committed in London or Paris, and five others of attempted rape. Thirteen women claim that Al-Fayed sexually assaulted them in his apartments near Hyde Park in London, where he often invited his female staff to work in the evenings. Nine women accuse him of similar acts in his Parisian villa.
Thus, this Friday, a total of 37 women accuse Mohamed Al-Fayed, who died in August 2023, and, according to their lawyers, will file a civil action against the famous department store. “The time for justice has come,” said American lawyer Gloria Allred, who is part of the group of lawyers in charge of this case, at a press conference held this Friday morning in London and during which the lawyers of the alleged victims promised “to obtain justice.”
Al-Fayed was “a monster,” “a monster who was able to act because of a system,” said attorney Dean Armstrong KC. “We have survivors from all over the world,” added attorney Bruce Drummond. The plaintiffs come from Malaysia, Australia, Italy, Romania, the United States and Canada, and one of them was only 16 when she says she was attacked.
What does Harrods say?
The BBC investigation also blames Harrods, since bought by the sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority, for failing to intervene at the time and trying to cover up the affair. According to Tony Leeming, a former executive at the luxury store, “everyone knew about it” and the “groping” by the owner had even become a subject of jokes.
Gloria Allred, a US lawyer known for defending women’s rights, stressed on Friday that “beneath the glitz and glamour” of the famous department store, there was “a toxic, dangerous and violent environment”. According to her, Al-Fayed’s actions were “consistent and repeated”. “There has been a quarter of a century of sexual violence at Harrods,” she added.
Saying they were “absolutely appalled”, the current management of the famous store “strongly” condemned the behavior of its former owner and apologized for having “let down (the) employees who were his victims”. “Harrods is today a very different organization”, the store indicates on its website, specifying that it had started in 2023 to “find amicable settlements” with the victims, to “avoid them lengthy legal proceedings”.
What do we know about the French side of the case?
Gloria Allred stressed that the assaults were not confined to Harrods, but also occurred at the Ritz in Paris, which the businessman also owned, as well as at his Parisian residence, the Villa Windsor. These were actions that were known to all, the lawyers said. Indeed, former employees of the Ritz in Paris are among the 37 women. “We also represent women who were employed by the Ritz,” assured lawyer Maria Mulla, during the press conference in London.
Source: www.20minutes.fr
