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The Harrods boss has personally apologized for the first time over sexual abuse allegations against the store's late owner Mohamed Al Fayed.
The BBC contacted Michael Ward at Harrods headquarters and he said: “I am terribly sorry for what happened to Al Fayed. »
Hundreds of women have claimed that the billionaire raped or sexually assaulted them. Police are investigating some claims and Harrods is also settling hundreds of claims.
Mr Ward, chief executive of Harrods since 2005, worked alongside Al Fayed until 2010 and has previously said he was not aware of any abuse.
Harrods' new owner, the Qatar Investment Authority, said an internal review was underway and declined to say whether it had identified or taken action against anyone currently working at Harrods.
Al Fayed, who died last year aged 94, was accused of sexual assault by more than 20 women in a BBC documentary and podcast in September.
Hundreds of people have contacted the BBC directly about Harrods and Mohamed Al-Fayed since the broadcast of the documentary Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods.
More than 70 of them came from women who sent the BBC their accounts of abuse by Al-Fayed, including sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape.
Mr Ward said in a statement in September that he had resigned from his role as a trustee of the Royal Ballet and Opera while the review took place at Harrods.
He added in the statement that he was unaware of the abuse at Harrods and that Al Fayed “presided over a toxic culture of secrecy, intimidation, fear of retaliation and sexual misconduct “, calling it a “shameful time.”
He said no official complaints were made to him during his time with Al Fayed, although rumors about his behavior were in the “public domain”.
The BBC had asked Mr Ward for an interview to try to find out what senior Harrods officials knew about the allegations at the time, but this request was refused.
When approached by the BBC at Harrods headquarters, Mr Ward said Harrods had “nothing further to add”.
Watch: Harrods boss Michael Ward tells BBC News he's 'terribly sorry' for Mohamed Al Fayed abuse
The abuse allegedly took place at Fulham FC, the Ritz Hotel Paris, Harrods, as well as other venues owned by Al Fayed.
Harrods previously told the BBC it was settling more than 250 compensation claims lodged by Al Fayed's victims. That figure has since risen to more than 290. The luxury department store has a compensation scheme for former employees who claim they were assaulted by Al Fayed, which is separate from the legal proceedings against him.
Fayed owned Harrods between 1985 and 2010. The store's new owners have previously said they are “appalled” by the sexual abuse allegations and have been investigating since 2023 whether current members of staff were involved.
Lawyers for some of the victims said they were working on a claim against Al Fayed's estate, as well as Harrods, adding that they expected to send hundreds more claims to the department store and that it would “make snowball and snowball.”
In 2008, allegations of indecent assault against a 15-year-old girl were made against Al Fayed and this was covered by the press at the time. Al Fayed denied the allegations and the Crown Prosecution Service chose not to press charges due to conflicting evidence.
Last week the BBC revealed that the Met Police had been informed of Mohamed Al Fayed's sexual assault allegations a decade earlier than they had admitted.
Human rights campaigner Dame Jasvinder Sanghera will meet “as many survivors as possible” and guide them through the compensation process, according to the retailer.
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