Harrods has advised the BBC it’s within the strategy of settling greater than 250 claims for compensation introduced by ladies who allege historic sexual misconduct by Mohamed Al Fayed.
The division retailer stated the ladies have come ahead because the launch of a BBC documentary greater than 4 weeks in the past. The investigation uncovered many years of significant sexual abuse allegations towards the previous Harrods proprietor.
Harrods has beforehand stated it has already settled a variety of claims.
Fayed owned Harrods between 1985 and 2010. Its new homeowners have beforehand stated they’re “appalled” by allegations of sexual abuse by Al Fayed and have been investigating since final 12 months whether or not any present members of workers have been concerned.
The firm stated it might not present a “running commentary” of its inner assessment.
Harrods has a compensation scheme for ex-employees who say they have been attacked by Al Fayed, which is separate from a authorized case towards the posh division retailer being introduced ahead by a number of totally different legislation companies.
Justice for Harrods Survivors group, who characterize the accusers of the previous Harrods boss, stated their legal professionals have been working with 147 ladies. It is unclear if there may be some overlap between the ladies in search of compensation from Harrods and people pursuing authorized motion.
The billionaire businessman, who died final 12 months aged 94, is accused of a number of counts of rape and tried rape by a number of ladies who labored for him – a lot of whom felt unable to report what had occurred till lately.
At the time of lots of the alleged assaults, Fayed was the proprietor of Harrods, the Ritz Paris resort and soccer membership Fulham FC.
He was a well known public determine who had hyperlinks to senior figures in Parliament and courted royalty and celebrities alike.
The BBC heard testimony from greater than 20 feminine ex-employees at Harrods throughout its investigation for the documentary and podcast – Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods.
The documentary, which aired final month, discovered that in Fayed’s possession, Harrods not solely did not intervene however helped cowl up abuse allegations.
Responding to the investigation, Harrods’ present homeowners stated they have been “utterly appalled” by the allegations and that his victims had been failed – for which the shop sincerely apologised.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg9gnw44e4o