Greater than 400 alleged victims have to this point contacted the authorized workforce engaged on a case in opposition to the late Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed, who has been accused of sexual abuse and rape, lawyer Dean Armstrong mentioned on Thursday.
A BBC documentary in September revealed Al Fayed, who died final 12 months aged 94, sexually abused feminine employees at his London division retailer Harrods, pressured them to have medical screenings and threatened penalties in the event that they tried to complain.
“The sheer scale of abuse perpetrated by Al Fayed, and facilitated by these round him, sadly, continues to develop,” Armstrong informed a information convention in London.
Al Fayed all the time denied comparable accusations raised by different experiences earlier than his demise.
When requested for a response, Harrods pointed Reuters to its previous statements on the allegations, wherein it has apologised, mentioned it was “appalled” by them and that it had launched a course of for any present or former Harrods staff who want to declare compensation.
One other lawyer, Bruce Drummond, mentioned the greater than 400 claims have been made by girls from around the globe, largely from Britain but in addition from the USA, Australia, Malaysia, Spain, South Africa and different nations.
“That, in our opinion, is an industrial scale abuse,” Drummond mentioned, including abuse befell “inside the partitions of Harrods” but in addition in different areas linked to Al Fayed’s enterprise empire, comparable to Fulham Soccer Membership, the Ritz Paris and his property in Surrey.
Victims embody the daughter of a former U.S. ambassador to Britain and the daughter of a widely known soccer participant, Drummond mentioned, with out giving any names.
The BBC documentary mentioned Harrods had didn’t intervene and helped to cowl up abuse allegations throughout his possession.
Attorneys have criticised the Harrods-run compensation scheme, saying a few of the victims don’t really feel comfy to succeed in out to Harrods instantly for compensation as that’s the place the abuse unfolded.
Drummond mentioned some senior members of employees from the Al Fayed period nonetheless labored at Harrods.
The Monetary Occasions final week reported that 4 alleged victims had give up the Harrods compensation scheme as a consequence of their considerations over potential conflicts of curiosity and poor communication.
A number of media organisations had reported allegations of sexual abuse in opposition to Al Fayed earlier than the BBC documentary, together with Self-importance Honest in 1995, ITV in 1997 and Channel 4 in 2017. Attorneys mentioned in September lots of the girls solely felt in a position to communicate publicly within the BBC report after he died final 12 months.
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