Australian women among the 400 alleged victims of Harrods billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed

Australian women are among hundreds of alleged victims who have accused the late Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed of sexual abuse and rape.

More than 400 alleged victims have contacted the legal team working on the case against Al-Fayed, attorney Dean Armstrong revealed Thursday.

A September BBC documentary revealed that Al-Fayed, who died last year aged 94, sexually assaulted female staff at his London department store Harrods, forced them to undergo medical examinations and threatened them with consequences if they tried to complain serve.

“The enormity of the abuse perpetrated by Al-Fayed and facilitated by those around him unfortunately continues to grow,” Armstrong told a news conference in London.

Another prosecution lawyer, Bruce Drummond, told the ABC that six of the alleged victims were Australians.

Five of the women worked at Harrods, while the sixth worked for a supplier. They were all in their 20s when the alleged attacks took place.

Al-Fayed had always denied similar allegations from other reports before his death.

When asked for a response, Harrods pointed Reuters to its previous statements on the allegations, in which it apologized, said it was “appalled” by them and that it had launched a lawsuit for current or former Harrods employees who wanted to make a claim. compensation.

Mr Drummond said the more than 400 claims were made by women from around the world, mainly from Britain, but also from the United States, Australia, Malaysia, Spain, South Africa and other countries.

“This, in our view, is abuse on an industrial scale,” Mr Drummond said, adding that the alleged offenses took place “within the walls of Harrods”, but also in other locations linked to Al-Fayed’s business empire, such as Fulham Football Club. the Ritz Paris and its estate in Surrey.

Victims include the daughter of a former US ambassador to Britain and the daughter of a famous football player, Drummond said, without naming names.

The BBC documentary said Harrods had failed to intervene and helped cover up allegations of abuse during his ownership.

Lawyers have criticized the compensation program administered by Harrods, saying some victims do not feel comfortable contacting Harrods directly for compensation as the abuse took place there.

Mr Drummond said some senior staff from the Al-Fayed era were still working at Harrods.

The Financial Times reported last week that four alleged victims had left Harrods’ compensation scheme due to concerns about potential conflicts of interest and poor communication.

Several media organizations had reported allegations of sexual abuse against Al-Fayed before the BBC documentary, including Vanity Fair in 1995, ITV in 1997 and Channel 4 in 2017.

Many of his transgressions were first detailed in an unauthorized 1998 biography by journalist Tom Bower.

Notorious germophobe Fayed was accused of ordering young female staff members he found attractive to undergo ‘invasive’ STD testing.

Mr Bower wrote that a doctor named Jane Reffell allegedly performed an “exhaustive gynecological examination” on a young lawyer who had been hand-picked to work for Fayed in 1989 because of her good looks.

The shady billionaire would later make repeated sexual advances towards the then 25-year-old lawyer, forcing her to lock herself in the bathroom of his Parisian suite.

Daily Mail Australia previously tracked down Dr Reffell in the sleepy village of Bangalow in the Northern Rivers region of NSW, about 15 minutes inland from hippie hangout Byron Bay, where she has run a women’s medicine practice since 2002.

Mr. Bowers’ book claimed that Dr. Reffell “understood what Fayed desired,” which was that his female staff be in good sexual health before he attacked them.

Dr. However, Reffell vehemently denied ever having played such a role.

“I just don’t believe it was me,” she told this publication.

“There are other doctors who have worked very closely with Fayed, but not me.”

When asked if she had ever carried out a sexual health test on a Harrods employee, Dr Reffell said: ‘I have done tests but it was on a personal, confidential basis.

“And I never necessarily did them for Al Fayed, but I might have done them for his staff if they were patients of the practice.”

Bowers’ book claims that the sexual health test results were sent to Alison Bozek, Fayed’s secretary.

Dr. However, Reffell said sharing a patient’s confidential information was a “red line” she would never cross.

“We just wouldn’t do it,” she said.

‘You need the patient’s permission for this.’

Dr. Reffell said she was “shocked” by the revelations and expressed her condolences for Fayed’s victims.

Fayed, who was known to prowl the corridors of Harrods looking for attractive young women to work in his top floor office, ruthlessly courted and made contact with senior members of the royal family.

His film producer son, Dodi, was dating Princess Diana when the couple died in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

Fayed’s insatiable appetite for harassing young women in his employ was both enabled and then covered up by an army of highly paid security guards, lawyers, publicists and doctors.

It is understood that Scotland Yard is actively pursuing those who may have helped Fayed carry out his crimes.