London’s luxury story Harrods and the Metropolitan Police may be hit with legal action following the revelations of allegations against the former billionaire boss.
It was revealed that billionaire businessman Mohamed Al Fayed was accused of multiple counts of rape and attempted rape by several women who worked for him, over years spanning back to the 1980s.
The former owner of Harrods, Ritz Paris hotel and football club Fulham FC died last August, aged 94.
UK law firm Leigh Day and US law firm Motley Rice announced that are investigating potential legal claims regarding allegations of trafficking, serious sexual assault and exploitation, suffered by former employees of Harrods.
The law firms are also investigating whether there are possible claims that could be made against the Metropolitan Police over allegations survivors reported their abuse but insufficient action was taken.
Leigh Day and Motley Rice are not the only ones. On Friday at a press conference, barristers Dean Armstrong KC of Maitland chambers, Bruce Drummond of New Bailey chambers, and Maria Mulla of Maitland chambers are focusing on individual claims against Harrods on behalf of each of their clients.
Both sets of probes are still on the investigation stage, with no claims filed.
The civil claims will initially focus on Harrods and its ‘systematic failure of corporate responsibility’ – but ‘nothing was off the table’, Amstrong KC told the press.
While on Monday, one of Leigh Days clients, who is an alleged victim, has urged the UK government to launch a statutory public inquiry into the allegations carried out by Al Fayed and “others who facilitated or failed to take action”.
The client (known as Joan) said: “I believe Jess Phillips MP told the Today programme last week that she would be led by what survivors might want to see in terms of investigations – well I am one of those survivors and I am asking for a statutory inquiry to be held. I hope that as Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls she will support my call and put this in motion as soon as possible.”