Harrods boss Michael Ward ‘dreadfully sorry’ for Al Fayed abuse | EUROtoday

The boss of Harrods has personally apologised for the primary time in relation to sexual abuse allegations in opposition to the shop’s late proprietor Mohamed Al Fayed.

The BBC approached Michael Ward on the Harrods headquarters and he stated: “I am very dreadfully sorry for what has happened with Al Fayed.”

Hundreds of ladies have alleged the billionaire raped or sexually abused them. Police are trying into some claims and Harrods can be settling a whole bunch of claims.

Mr Ward, who has been managing director of Harrods since 2005, labored alongside Al Fayed till 2010 and has beforehand stated he didn’t know of any abuse.

Harrods new proprietor, the Qatar Investment Authority, stated an inner overview was ongoing and declined to say whether or not it had recognized or taken any motion in opposition to anybody at present working there.

Al Fayed, who died final yr aged 94, was accused of sexual assault by greater than 20 ladies in a BBC documentary and podcast in September.

Hundreds of individuals have contacted the BBC straight about Harrods and Mohamed Al-Fayed for the reason that documentary Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods aired.

More than 70 of these had been from ladies who despatched the BBC their accounts of abuse by Al-Fayed together with sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape.

Mr Ward stated in a press release in September that he had stepped down from his position as a trustee of Royal Ballet and Opera whereas the overview at Harrods takes place.

He added within the assertion that he didn’t know of the abuse at Harrods and that Al Fayed “presided over a poisonous tradition of secrecy, intimidation, concern of repercussion and sexual misconduct”, calling it a “shameful interval”.

He said no formal complaints had been brought to him during his time with Al Fayed, although rumours of his behaviour were in the “public area”.

The BBC had asked Mr Ward for an interview to try and find out what was known by senior staff at Harrods of the allegations at the time but that was declined.

During the BBC’s approach at the Harrods headquarters, Mr Ward said Harrods had “nothing additional so as to add.”

The abuse allegedly took place at Fulham FC, the Ritz Hotel Paris, Harrods, as well as other places owned by Al Fayed.

Harrods previously told the BBC that it was in the process of settling more than 250 claims for compensation brought by victims of Al Fayed. That figure has since risen to more than 290. The luxury department store has a compensation scheme for ex-employees who say they were attacked by Al Fayed, which is separate from the legal case against it.

Fayed owned Harrods between 1985 and 2010. The store’s new owners have previously said they are “appalled” by the allegations of sexual abuse and have been investigating since 2023 whether any current members of staff were involved.

Lawyers for some of the victims said they were working on a claim against the Al Fayed estate, as well as Harrods, adding they expected to send hundreds more claims to the department store and that it would “snowball and snowball”.

In 2008, allegations of indecent assault against a 15-year-old girl were made against Al Fayed and it was covered in the press at the time. Al Fayed denied the claims, and the Crown Prosecution Service chose not to pursue charges due to conflicting evidence.

Last week the BBC revealed that the Met Police was told of allegations of sexual assault by Mohamed Al Fayed a decade earlier than it has acknowledged

The human rights campaigner Dame Jasvinder Sanghera will meet “as many survivors as potential” and guide them through the compensation process, according to the retailer.

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