A new BBC documentary reports that former Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed has been accused of rape, with five female ex-employees alleging the late billionaire sexually assaulted them while in charge of the luxury London department store.
READ MORE:. READ MORE:The boss of luxury department store Harrods has apologised for the firm 'failing' its employees after sex abuse allegations against late owner Mohamed Al Fayed , a leaked memo reveals.
Now Mr Ward has told current staff in his internal message they would receive 'the support you need during this incredibly difficult time', as he described Fayed as 'abusing his power wherever he operated'. Harrowing details of the accusations, including vivid descriptions of the alleged rapes by the women, were shown on a new programme called Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods - along with claims the firm itself not only failed to intervene to help the alleged victims but also covered up their claims.
And now in his memo to staff today, Mr Ward wrote: 'You may be aware of the BBC documentary, and the accompanying podcast, concerning allegations of misconduct by Harrods’ former owner and Chairman, the late Mohamed Al Fayed during his period of ownership of Harrods from 1985 to 2010. The corporation says more than 20 female former workers at Harrods have come forward to accuse Al Fayed of sexual abuse
'This process is still available for any current or former Harrods colleagues. While we cannot undo the past, we have been determined to do the right thing as an organisation, driven by the values we hold today.' The alleged attacks are said to have happened not only in London including at his Mayfair flat in the capital but also in Paris, at the Ritz hotel which he owned, and St Tropez in France as well as Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
'I remember feeling his body on me, the weight of him. Just hearing him make these noises. And just going somewhere else in my head.' She described waking up to find him attempting to get into bed with her, adding: 'I told him, 'No, I don't want you to'. The chairman of the world famous department store, is accused of 'scaring' the people who worked under him into silence and carrying out his bidding.
The abuse was not just confined to the Knightsbridge store, with one alleged victim saying he was even more monstrous on work trips abroad.The woman, called Gemma, told the BBC she woke up to find him getting into her bed, saying: 'I told him, 'No, I don't want you to'.'Advertisement 'I was kind of face down on the bed and he just pressed himself on me.
She said getting back to London was 'even more terrifying' because she felt she had no one to turn to, explaining that she and her colleagues were under 'surveillance' and that there was a 'strong culture of don't talk about anything relating to him'. Gemma said that while she was on sick leave, Mr Al Fayed would ring her and threatened to send his security team to take her back to London.Some of Fayed's assaults are said to have been carried out at his Park Lane property in London
The tycoon had four children with Finnish socialite Heini Wathén - Jasmine, born 1980, Karim, born 1983, Camilla born 1985 and Omar born 1987.His daughter Camilla was charged with robbery in December after allegedly ordering her bodyguards to steal her brother Omar's phone at the tycoon's Surrey mansion.
'They gave me a settlement, they made me shred my evidence and I had to sign an NDA to say I would never speak about it.' Fayed was accused of sexual assault when alive, but the BBC now says it believes many more women could have been victims of him. Harrods said in a statement to the BBC: 'The Harrods of today is a very different organisation to the one owned and controlled by Al Fayed between 1985 and 2010.
The programme, which charts the British royal family over the last 70 years, introduced him in season 5. One woman told the BBC: 'To be honest it's made me hot and bothered, I think he comes across pleasant and we all know he's not.' He later bought House of Fraser, including Harrods, with his brothers, as well as the Ritz hotel in Paris, which he owned up until his death.He built his family's fortune in real estate, shipping and construction, first in the Middle East and then in Europe - aided by connections with his first wife Samira Khashoggi's arms dealer brother Adnan Khashoggi.
One episode charted his rise to fame and his eventual meeting with Diana, although his alleged victims have slammed the sympathetic portrayal of him on the show. Among those giving testimony to the BBC is Gemma who says Fayed raped her at Villa Windsor in Paris's Bois de Boulogne , former home of King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson The pair then travelled together as they sought to leave the Ritz Hotel in Paris on the fateful morning of August 31 that year.
At the same inquest Al Fayed claimed that Charles would be 'happy' now that the Royal Family had 'cleared the decks, they finished her, they murdered her'.
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