The London Metropolitan Police (Met, or Scotland Yard) is investigating at least five people who They may have helped Egyptian tycoon Mohamed Al Fayed abuse dozens of womensome minors, between 1977 and 2014, as reported in a statement.
The Met indicated in its note that the number of new complaints against the deceased businessman rises to 90, after the BBC broadcast the documentary in September Al Fayed: Predator at Harrodsin which a group of affected people revealed their experience for the first time.
In that program it was explained that Al Fayed had a system by which He selected the employees and gave them gynecological examinations and how in his office, home or supposedly work trips he harassed and sexually assaulted them, including rape.
The agents will try to establish what role several associates of Al Fayed, who died in 2023 at the age of 94, could have played in “assistance and facilitation” of crimesaccording to the statement.
These were committed when he owned the London luxury department store Harrods, from 1985 to 2010, and also the Fulham football club and the Ritz hotel in Paris.
The Police said in the note that also reviews old allegations that did not lead to chargesso she self-referred for investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
The British Prosecutor’s Office has admitted that it ruled out on at least two occasions, in 2008 and 2013, formalize accusations against the suspectconsidering that there was no solid evidence.
Currently, a group of lawyers representing the victims, who are already 111 declaredis preparing a civil lawsuit against Harrods, accusing it of sponsoring a system of collaboration and cover-up for Al Fayed, which involved doctors and human resources and security personnel.
The new owners of the department stores – the State of Qatar – condemned the events and They have opened a fund to compensate those affected.
Commander Stephen Clayman of the Met highlighted in the statement “the bravery of each surviving victim who came forward to share their experiences, often after years of silence“.
“This investigation aims to give voice to survivors, although Mohamed Al Fayed is no longer alive to face a process“, he stated. For that reason, “any suspicious person is also persecuted of having been an accomplice to his crime,” he added.
Clayman further committed to try to regain the trust of those affected after admitting that previous investigations were insufficient.