Mohamed Al Fayed, the late owner of Harrods department store in London, has been accused of sexually abusing women who worked for him. One survivor, who has given a pseudonym to protect her identity, told BBC News that Al Fayed raped her when she was 16. The woman described being taken to his apartment, where she was first asked to answer inappropriate personal questions and then subjected to an intrusive medical examination by a doctor hired by Harrods. Other women have made similar allegations, while critics have demanded to know what the company’s senior management knew about the abuse and what steps they took to prevent it.
The survivor stated that there was a “whole system” enabling Al Fayed’s abuse. Another former employee, Lindsay, claims that her medical examination was organised by a senior assistant. Lindsay believes that the examinations were intended to allow Al Fayed to learn whether women had sexually transmitted diseases. Some women also recall being summoned to Al Fayed’s office or apartment by personal assistants. Steve, a member of the billionaire’s security staff in the 1990s, claims to have seen women entering Al Fayed’s Park Lane apartment and returned some time later. In some cases, security staff escorted the women. Sophia, who offers only her first name, stated that some women believed that Harrods was bugged.
Harrods has acknowledged the accusations and apologised to survivors, adding: “the Harrods of today is a very different organisation” to the one run by Al Fayed. The General Medical Council also intends to investigate the actions of at least one of the doctors implicated in the allegations
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