The predator Mohamed Al-Fayed was aided and abetted by many

In a bleak curtain-raiser to the dark age of celebrity, Mohamed Al-Fayed, the former owner of the London luxury emporium Harrods, has finally been exposed using money and access to power to the city’s elite to silence the voices of women he habitually assaulted.

The sheer number of his victims is mind-boggling. More than 250 women, including 14 Australians, have made claims they were assaulted by the now-deceased Egyptian billionaire.

More than 250 women have claimed they were assaulted by former Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed, who died in 2023.Credit: AP Photo

He was an early proponent of celebrity to promote his business and personal profile as a friend of the rich, famous and aristocratic, but behind the facade of the world’s most famous department store, Harrods was putrid to the core as Al-Fayed, its then owner and chair, scouted, groomed and sexually assaulted employees over his quarter-century reign at the British institution.

Allegations about Al-Fayed’s predatory behaviour were around for years but, due to his frequent resort to libel laws and continued threats of litigation, invariably came to little but gossip. Complaints were made to police in 1995 and continued for years with no action undertaken by authorities.

Meanwhile, Al-Fayed fuelled London tabloids with the conspiracy that Princess Diana and her then-boyfriend, and Al-Fayed’s son Dodi, were killed in the 1997 Paris car crash by MI6 on the orders of Prince Philip. Even as the risible controversy swirled, the Harrods owner was portrayed on historical television dramas about the royal family and appeared on talk shows as the British media aided and abetted and lapped up his celebrity.

He died in August 2023, scot-free, but his myth overwhelmed the dark reality for more than a year.

But when the Al-Fayed scandal finally resurfaced last September in a BBC documentary, the satirical magazine Private Eye, which for years had sneeringly called him the “Phony Pharaoh”, skewered the media’s careless reporting. “That Fayed coverage: What you will read – 94 pieces by female journalists detailing how they were sent to interview Mohamed Fayed and felt deeply uncomfortable when propositioned by him. What you will not read: 94 pieces by male editors detailing why they never published anything by the women saying so at the time.”

Death allowed Al-Fayed to escape justice. But Harrods, which he sold in 2010, has agreed to settle more than 250 compensation claims by his victims.

Last December the world looked on with admiration as Gisele Pelicot bravely waived anonymity in the trial of her former husband and 50 other men for mass rape against her.

Now Al-Fayed’s disgraceful behaviour has revealed a scale of predation so staggering his victims’ lawyers believe it may constitute the world’s worst case of corporate sexual abuse. Women have always known money and power enabled men to get away with abuse. But Al-Fayed had many accomplices. They watched their boss prowl Harrods’ gleaming floors and aided and abetted him by saying and doing nothing.

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