Lawyers acting for women attacked by Mohamed Al Fayed say Harrods must reveal how many people were silenced by non-disclosure agreements after its new owners pledged not to enforce any signed during his ownership.
Fayed covered up his sexual abuse by intimidating victims into signing NDAs in exchange for money, as well as taking libel action against media outlets that tried to expose him.
Yet the full extent of his abuses remains unclear and although more than 200 people have come forward so far, some women who were attacked may feel unable to take action, lawyers say.
Harrods said in a statement: “There are no NDAs attached to settlements made under the current ownership and Harrods would not seek to enforce any NDAs that relate to alleged historical sexual abuse by Fayed that were entered into during the period of his, Fayed’s, ownership.”
However, it was unable to say how many NDAs were signed under Fayed.
Dino Nocivelli, a partner in the abuse team at Leigh Day, one of the law firms representing victims, said Harrods had a duty to go further.
“Have they reached out to women who have signed NDAs to let them know?” he said. “It’s possible that some of the women have seen the publicity around this, but think that they can’t say anything because of something they’ve signed. Have Harrods put it on their website? Have they told any of the lawyers involved?
“It’s important that we know the true scale of this – how many women he abused, the time period, how old they were, where that abuse took place and when the allegations were made.” The reason for understanding the scale, Nocivelli said, was that other people had helped Fayed cover up his crimes.
“The fact that NDAs were used in certain cases, literally silencing a victim all over again, is despicable and resulted in other women having to carry the burden of their abuse for many unnecessary and painful years,” he said.
Fayed, who died last year aged 94, owned Harrods, the Ritz hotel in Paris and Fulham Football Club, as well as a charitable foundation, a publishing company and several properties. Harrods was sold to a firm controlled by the Qatari royal family in 2010.
The BBC documentary Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods heard from more than 20 women who worked for Fayed. Five said he raped them while they were worked at the store.
Fayed would pick out young female employees to to work more closely with him on the fifth floor of the Knightsbridge department store. He would then assault them in his offices, his apartment or on overseas trips. There have been allegations of attacks in London, Paris, St Tropez and Abu Dhabi.
Since the documentary was shown, more women said they were attacked. Barristers from a legal team called Harrods Survivors, solicitors Leigh Day and US firm Motley Rice are now representing at least 60 people.
Harrods Survivors said last week they had “credible evidence of abuse at other Al Fayed properties and businesses, including Fulham Football Club”. Fulham said it was in the process of finding out whether anyone at the club had been affected.
In May the previous government passed the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, which would mean anyone signing an NDA who believed they were the victim of a crime would still be able to contact police, lawyers or other professionals. But the NDA clause has not yet come into force.
Campaigners including Pregnant Then Screwed and Can’t Buy My Silence have called for NDAs to be banned in employment disputes. Others have suggested a central authority should be created where NDAs should be registered before they can be enforced.
The Metropolitan police said last week it was investigating new allegations against Fayed. Officers are “carrying out full reviews of all existing allegations reported to us about Al Fayed to ensure there are no new lines of enquiry based on new information which has emerged”, it said.
Although Fayed cannot now be pursued, “we must ensure we fully explore whether any other individuals could be pursued for any criminal offences”, it added.
Nineteen women made allegations between 2005 and 2023 to police about offences that took place between 1979 and 2013, including three allegations of rape, 15 sexual assaults and one related to trafficking.
Yet Fayed was never prosecuted. The Met said officers had approached the Crown Prosecution Service five times, and passed a file of evidence twice, in 2009 and 2015.
Various publications and broadcasters tried to investigate Fayed while he was alive. Vanity Fair reported in 1995 that Fayed had sexually harassed female staff and women were subjected to invasive medical examinations. Fayed sued, and the case was settled after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed.
ITV’s The Big Story reported in 1997 that four women said they had been groped by Fayed and promised rewards for sex, and evidence that Fayed had bugged employee phones in Harrods.
Fayed’s son, Omar, said in a statement to Sky News that he was “horrified” by the allegations against his father. “The extent and explicit nature of the allegations are shocking and has thrown into question the loving memory I had of him,” he said.
“How this matter could have been concealed for so long and in so many ways raises further disturbing questions.”
