So far, more than 400 alleged victims have contacted the legal team working on the case against late Egyptian billionaire Mohamed El Fayed, who is accused of sexual assault and rape, lawyer Dan Armstrong said Thursday.

A BBC documentary in September revealed that Al Fayed, who died last year at the age of 94, sexually assaulted women at his London department store Harrods for medical examinations. Forced and threatened with consequences if they tried to complain.

“The sheer scale of the abuse perpetrated by al-Fayed, and facilitated by those around him, sadly continues to escalate,” Armstrong told a news conference in London.

Al-Fayed has always denied similar allegations made by other reports before his death.

When asked for a response, Harrods pointed to his past statements to Reuters on the allegations, in which he apologized, saying it was “fearful” on his part and that he had not made any current claims. or initiated a process for former Harrods employees who wish to claim compensation. .

Another lawyer, Bruce Drummond, said more than 400 claims had been made by women around the world, most of them from the UK but also the US, Australia, Malaysia, Spain, South Africa and other countries.

“This, in our opinion, is abuse on an industrial scale,” Drummond said, adding that the abuse took place “within the walls of Harrods” but also at other venues linked to Al Fayed’s business empire, such as Fulham football. Club, the Ritz Paris and his estate in Surrey

The victims included the daughter of a former US ambassador to Britain and the daughter of a famous football player, Drummond said, without naming names.

The BBC documentary said Harrods had failed to intervene and helped cover up allegations of abuse during his ownership.

Lawyers have criticized the compensation scheme run by Harrods, saying some victims do not feel comfortable contacting Harrods directly for compensation because that is where the abuse was discovered.

Some senior members of staff from the Al Fayed era still work at Harrods, Drummond said.

The Financial Times reported last week that four alleged victims had left the Harrods compensation scheme over concerns of potential conflicts of interest and poor communication.

A number of media outlets reported allegations of sexual abuse against Al Fayed before the BBC documentary, including Vanity Fair in 1995, ITV in 1997 and Channel 4 in 2017. After dying last year.

(Other than the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

(Tags Translation)Mohammed Al Fayed



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