The managing director of Harrods has accused his former boss Mohamed al Fayed of presiding over “a toxic culture of secrecy, intimidation, fear of repercussion and sexual misconduct”.
Five women who used to work at the luxury department store have alleged they were raped by Fayed, who died last year at the age of 94, with several other former employees alleging sexual misconduct.
In a written statement, Michael Ward, who worked for the Egyptian billionaire at Harrods for four years, has denied having been previously aware of the businessman’s “criminality and abuse”.
He said Fayed’s ownership between 1985 and 2010 represents a “shameful period in the business’s history”.
Mr Ward apologised and said Harrods had “failed our colleagues”.
His statement reads: “As managing director of Harrods, I wanted to convey my personal horror at the revelations that have emerged over the past week.
“We have all seen the survivors bravely speak about the terrible abuse they suffered at the hands of Harrods former owner Mohamed Fayed.
“As we have already stated, we failed our colleagues and for that we are deeply sorry.
“As someone who has worked at Harrods since 2006, and therefore worked for Fayed until the change of ownership in 2010, I feel it is important to make it clear that I was not aware of his criminality and abuse.
“While it is true that rumours of his behaviour circulated in the public domain, no charges or allegations were ever put to me by the Police, the CPS, internal channels or others. Had they been, I would of course have acted immediately.”
Mr Ward also said an independent review was under way into issues arising from the allegations and that he had “provided all the information I have to ensure my own conduct can be reviewed alongside that of my colleagues”.
“I am not part of the committee conducting this review and will in no way influence its operation or recommendations… I have also stepped back from my charity trustee positions while this review is taking place,” he said.
Mr Ward added that Fayed had ran his business as his “own personal fiefdom”.
He continued: “It is now clear that he presided over a toxic culture of secrecy, intimidation, fear of repercussion and sexual misconduct.
“The picture that is now emerging suggests that he did this wherever he operated.”
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Fayed survivor speaks out: ‘It smashes his legacy’
Mr Ward insisted that the Harrods of today is “unrecognisable” compared to how it was under Fayed’s leadership.
He added that the business has established a settlement process which has been “designed in consultation with independent, external experts in personal injury litigation”.
“We encourage former colleagues to contact us using this process so that we can provide the support, and recourse, they need”, Mr Ward said.
Sources within Harrods have said the business has accepted vicarious liability, a rule of law that imposes strict liability on employers for the wrongdoings of their employees, for the conduct of Fayed for the purpose of settling claims of alleged victims brought to its attention since 2023.
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‘Mohamed al Fayed brainwashed me’
Some women have claimed they were subjected to “intrusive and wholly unnecessary” gynaecological tests to work for Fayed and have alleged the purpose of the tests was for checking for sexually transmitted infections.
Alleged victims are set to lodge a complaint against Dr Ann Coxon, claiming she has “questions to answer” over the examinations.
Dr Coxon declined to comment on the matter.
A General Medical Council spokeswoman said: “If we identify any potential fitness to practise concerns about individual doctors, we will thoroughly examine all relevant information and take action as appropriate.”
What has Fayed been accused of?
Dean Armstrong KC, a lawyer representing some of Fayed’s 37 alleged victims, has said the case against the businessman “combines some of the most horrific elements” of those including Jimmy Savile, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein.
The allegations have surfaced after an investigation by the BBC.
A former employee of Harrods has told Sky News “demonic” Fayed would “cherry pick” women from the shop floor and once they were called to his office they “couldn’t say no”.
After taking over Harrods in 1985, Fayed expanded his business interests to include the Paris Ritz and Fulham Football Club.
Lawyers say they are aware of allegations made by employees at other businesses owned by Fayed and are representing women who worked at the Paris Ritz.
There have not been any allegations against Fayed in relation to his ownership of Fulham FC between 1997 and 2013.
Nine water companies have been blocked from using customer money to fund “undeserved” bonuses by the industry’s regulator.
Ofwat said it had stepped in to use its new powers over water firms that cannot show that bonuses are sufficiently linked to performance.
The blocked payouts amount to 73% of the total executive awards proposed across the industry.
The regulator has prevented crisis-hit Thames Water, Yorkshire Water, and Dwr Cymru Welsh Water from paying £1.5m in bonuses from cash generated from customer bills.
It said a further six firms have voluntarily decided not to push the cost of executive bonuses worth a combined £5.2m on to customers.
Instead, shareholders at Anglian Water, Severn Trent, South West, Southern Water, United Utilities and Wessex will pay the cost.
David Black, chief executive of Ofwat, said: “In stopping customers from paying for undeserved bonuses that do not properly reflect performance, we are looking to sharpen executive mindsets and push companies to improve their performance and culture of accountability.
“While we are starting to see companies take some positive steps, they need to do more to rebuild public trust.”
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The announcement came in an Ofwat update on firms’ financial resilience and bonuses.
Industry lobby group Water UK said: “Almost all water company bonuses are already paid by shareholders, not customers.
“All companies recognise the need to do more to deliver on their plans to support economic growth, build more homes, secure our water supplies and end sewage entering our rivers.
“We now need the regulator Ofwat to fully approve water companies’ £108bn investment plans so that we can get on with it.
“Ofwat’s financial resilience report provides yet more evidence that the current system isn’t working, with returns down to 2% and eight companies making a loss.
“It is clear we need a faster and simpler system which allows companies to deliver for customers, the environment and the country.”
Court papers filed on Wednesday expand on an earlier outline for what prosecutors argued would dilute that monopoly.
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Dozens of partners at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Britain’s biggest accountancy firm, will next month take early retirement as its new boss takes steps to boost its performance.
Sky News has learnt that PwC’s 1,030 UK partners were notified earlier this week that a larger-than-usual round of partner retirements would take place at the end of the year.
Sources said the round would involve several dozen partners – who command average pay packages of about £1m – leaving the firm.
PwC named about 60 new partners earlier this year under Marco Amitrano, who was appointed as its new UK boss in the spring.
Mr Amitrano is understood to have informed partners about the changes in a voice memo, although one insider disputed the idea that the numbers involved were “significant”.
The partner retirements come as the big four audit firms contend with a sizeable bill from increases in the Budget in employers’ national insurance contributions.
It emerged this week that Deloitte is cutting nearly 200 jobs in its advisory business, according to the Financial Times.
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An ongoing shake-up of the audit profession is not being restricted to the big four firms, with Sky News revealing on Wednesday that Cinven, the private equity firm, was in advanced talks to buy a controlling stake in Grant Thornton UK.
The deal, which is expected to value Grant Thornton at somewhere in the region of £1.5bn, was announced on Thursday morning.