According to reports, the former chief executive of Harrods claims he witnessed Mohamed Al-Fayed's “abhorrent” behaviour during his brief time working at the famous British retailer but was unaware of any sexual abuse.
More than 20 women spoke to the BBC. A new documentary claims that Egyptian billionaire Fayed, who died last year aged 94, raped and sexually assaulted his wives during his 25-year tenure as owner of Harrods and his tenure at the London department store.
James MacArthur, who was CEO of Harrods for just 10 months in 2008, has now spoken out about Fayed's actions.
“I served as CEO of Harrods under Mr Fayed for 10 months in 2008 but it was a short and very unpleasant experience.” MacArthur told the BBC. In a statement.
“While Mr Fayed's behaviour was abhorrent in many ways and my professional relationship with him was generally dysfunctional, I was not aware of any sexual abuse by him. If I had known, I would have taken action.”
McArthur said Fayed used inappropriate humor and was unprofessional.
The former CEO was working under Mr Fayed at the time police were investigating the alleged assault of a 15-year-old girl in a Harrods conference room.
MacArthur said he was not aware of the investigation.
“I would imagine that Mr Fayed would want to keep any of that very much within the tightly controlled confines of the chairman's office,” Mr MacArthur told the BBC.
The BBC told Mr MacArthur that the investigation had been widely covered in the media in 2008.
“I have no recollection of that at all,” MacArthur insisted.
Police officers presented evidence to the prosecutor's office to indict Fayed in 2009 and 2015, but the prosecutor's office chose not to seek a conviction both times.
Mr MacArthur is not the only chief executive to leave the iconic London department store in a short space of time: Harrods has seen a lot of turnover under Mr Fayed.
After leaving Harrods, MacArthur took over the running of British luxury handbag company Anya Hindmarch and later served as chairman of several companies, most recently luxury designer Lulu Guinness, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He has not listed his employer on his profile since 2021. His title on LinkedIn is now “Investor/Director/Advisor.”
“My heartfelt sympathy goes out to Fayed's victims and I sincerely hope that they get the justice and closure they are seeking,” Mr MacArthur told the BBC.
MacArthur declined to comment further.
Andre Mader, chief executive of Harrods' rival Selfridges and a director at Harrods from 1996 to 2002, said on Monday he was “horrified” to learn of the allegations.
He told the BBC he had “seen or heard nothing” about any abuse.
Harrods is now investigating whether current staff tried to cover up Mr Al Fayed's alleged abuse.
But Maria Mura, a lawyer representing former Harrods employees, said Harrods' investigation was neither impartial nor independent.
“The way they investigated those allegations undermined them,” she told the BBC.
Mulla said the scale of the allegations could be “enormous.”
As of last week, Ms. Mulla and her team had represented 37 women. Since then, Ms. Mulla said, the lawyers have heard from 100 people, including women with “serious” questions and people who want to help provide evidence.
Harrods, which was bought by the Qatari government in 2010, said in a statement that it had “let down the affected employees” and vowed to resolve legal claims “as quickly as possible”.
According to the BBC, Harrods has reached financial settlements with most of the former employees who accused Fayed of abuse.
“Harrods today is a very different organisation to the one owned and controlled by Mr Al Fayed between 1985 and 2010 and is committed to putting employee welfare at the heart of everything it does,” the company said in a statement.
Harrods did not respond to requests for further comment.
Many of the victims said the department store's culture of fear prevented them from coming forward years ago.
Lawyers for the victims allege that Fayed assaulted and raped female employees at the department store, forced them to undergo medical examinations and threatened them when they tried to speak up.
One woman said that after she told reporters about Al Fayed's actions, she received a call from Al Fayed's security guard saying he had her parents' address.
Another woman said members of Harrods' human resources team were present when lawyers suppressed evidence of Fayed's assault.
