Lawyers for Al Fayed’s victims of sexual assault perpetrated by the late Egyptian tycoon Mohamed al Fayed have already received the testimonies of more than 400 affected and witnesses, as announced Thursday.
The group Justice for Survivors of Harrods -the department store that was owned by Al Fayed and from which most of the allegations stem – explained that it had already the first formal letter of complaint has been sent to the store, in what amounts to “the beginning of the legal process”.
According to lawyers representing the group, most of the 421 testimonies received relate to. cases that occurred in “the context of Harrods”.although others have also been reported from the Fulham soccer club or the Ritz hotel in Pariswhich was also owned by Al Fayed. Lawyer Dean Armstrong announced at his appearance that a “major law firm” will represent the victims and will handle the management of the the complaints that are being made to the institutions that may have covered up or cooperated in the abuses of the businessman.
The first letter sent to Harrods will be followed by another this Thursday and “hundreds” in the coming days, said Armstrong, for whom this is the clear signal that it is time for “Harrods, Al Fayed’s heirs and Fulham to understand that it’s time to do the right thing“. According to another of the lawyers, Maria Mulla, the tycoon had a “large network” of enablers who enabled him to carry out his abuses. “Some of them are still alive, (but) we are not able to give their names or announce who those individuals are,” she said.
Two weeks ago, it emerged that the London Metropolitan Police only passed on two complaints to the Crown Prosecutor’s Office about sexual offenses against Al Fayed, despite having received complaints from 21 women, according to the BBC. The information, which was provided by the Crown Prosecution Service to the public corporation, raised new doubts about the actions of security forces regarding Al Fayed, who was accused by dozens of women of sexual abuse and assault after his death last year at the age of 94.
For its part, the BBC aired a month ago a documentary revealing the extent of Al Fayed’s abuse of female employees at Harrods. Since then at least 40 women have contacted the Police to report that they had been sexually harassed by the businessman since 1977.