Scotland Yard Apologizes for Past Failures in Al-Fayed Case
Reports against the late Mohamed Al-Fayed, the Egyptian magnate based in the United Kingdom and well-known on the British and international public scene for decades, continue to multiply, CE Report quotes ANSA.
His figure has become the center of a vast posthumous scandal involving accusations of serial sexual abuse and harassment.
The scandal involves hundreds of alleged victims and witnesses, with a total of 146 statements collected by the British police, according to the latest update shared with the complainants and now with the media.
Investigators have stated they have gathered new evidence following a post-mortem investigative report by the BBC in recent months regarding the businessman’s alleged misconduct, including molestation or rape inflicted decades ago on young and very young employees of the time.
These accusations add to at least 21 historical reports made to authorities starting from 2005, when Al-Fayed was still alive and influential, but those accusations at the time led to no results — for which Scotland Yard has recently formally apologized.
The case also has ramifications in foreign countries where the billionaire had interests and properties, and where some of the incidents reportedly took place. Police forces from those countries are cooperating, said Karen Khan, chief inspector of the Met Police, who leads a dedicated detective team.
The accusations primarily come from former employees of the luxury department store Harrods — the crown jewel of Al-Fayed’s business empire until 2010. They involve at least five living individuals identified as potential accomplices in a sort of “covered” corporate recruitment system of employee-victims (some not even of legal age at the time) made available to the predatory boss.
This system was apparently also adopted within other former companies of the tycoon (father of Dodi, Princess Diana’s last boyfriend who died with her in the tragic 1997 Alma tunnel accident): from the Ritz Hotel in Paris to the women’s section of the London football club Fulham.
