Harrods investigates if current staff involved in Fayed abuse allegations
Harrods is investigating whether any of its current workers were "directly or indirectly involved" involved in the rape and sexual assault accusations against its previous owner, Mohamed Al Fayed.
The department store is in "direct communication with the Metropolitan Police" and has launched an internal review to examine whether any current staff were involved in any of the allegations, according to The Guardian.
It has also established a non-executive committee of the board to further consider the issues arising from the allegations.
It comes after lawyers urged Harrods to take responsibility following a string of sexual assault and rape claims made against Al Fayed.
Barrister Dean Armstrong KC told a press conference last week that the case "combines some of the most horrific elements of the cases involving Jimmy Savile, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein", according to The Telegraph.
"I have many years of practice... I have never seen a case as horrific as this. We will say plainly, Mohamed Al Fayed was a monster," he said.
At the press conference on Friday morning, Armstrong urged the department store to ensure the victims were properly compensated.
He acknowledged that there was a "systematic failure of corporate responsibly" and that failure is "on the shoulder of Harrods".
"We are here to say publicly and to the world, or Harrods in front of the world, that it is time that they took responsibility, and it is time that they set matters right, and that is something they should do as soon as possible. They need to face up to accept the responsibility, that they have full culpability for the abuse that these women suffered," Armstrong said during the press conference.
"Today, we are going to set out our claim and how our claim shows an abject failure of corporate responsibility and a failure to provide a safe system of work."
It comes after new allegations about Fayed, who died last year, were published by the BBC. Fayed sold Harrods and cut ties with the business in 2011.
More than 20 women claimed they were sexually assaulted by the billionaire, with five of those saying they were raped.
The women, who worked at Harrods from the late 1980s to the 2000s, said assaults were carried out at the company’s offices, in Fayed’s London apartment or on foreign trips, often at the Ritz hotel in Paris.
The BBC uncovered the allegations in a documentary and podcast called Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods. It claims Harrods not only failed to intervene but also helped cover up allegations against Fayed.
The current owners of Harrods said they were "utterly appalled" by the allegations and that his victims had been failed - for which the luxury department store sincerely apologised.