Trailer: World of Secrets: Al Fayed, Predator at Harrods

Lives Less Ordinary

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.6 • 814 Ratings

🗓️ 17 October 2024

⏱️ 4 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed – former owner of one of the most famous shops in the world – is accused of rape and attempted rape by women who worked for him. For the full investigation, search for World of Secrets wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

This is a story of power and control at the very top of British society. At the time of many of the alleged attacks, Mohamed Al Fayed was the owner of London’s luxury department store Harrods, and also the iconic Ritz Paris hotel and English football club Fulham FC.

The BBC heard testimony of over 20 women.

Harrods has condemned Al Fayed’s actions “in the strongest terms” and has told the BBC that “as a business we failed our employees who were his victims and for this we sincerely apologise.” Harrods says the organisation is different today to the one owned by Al Fayed, and it “seeks to put the welfare of our employees at the heart of everything we do.”

Transcript

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0:00.0	On a winter's night in 1974, a crime took place that would obsess the nation.
0:06.9	It was an extraordinary news story.
0:09.1	The story of an aristocrat, Lord Lucan, who's said to have killed the family Nanny,
0:13.7	mistaking her for his wife, then somehow just disappeared.
0:18.0	One of the great mysteries in English criminal history.
0:20.7	We're still looking for Lucan. It's honestly one of the great mysteries in English criminal history. We're still looking for
0:21.6	Leukin. It's honestly one of the most powerful stories of my lifetime. I'm Alex von
0:26.6	Tundselman. This is The Lucan Obsession. Listen on BBC Sounds. The story about Muhammad Al-Faid has made
0:34.1	headlines around the world. The billionaire who died last year has been accused of multiple
0:39.2	counts of rape, attempted rape and sexual assault by women who worked for him. Now they refuse to be
0:45.8	silenced any longer. The story is told by the BBC's Global Investigations podcast, World of Secrets.
0:54.1	Mohamed Al-Fayyad, eccentric billionaire. But you must call me Investigations podcast, World of Secrets.
0:57.0	Mohamed Al-Fayad, eccentric billionaire.
0:58.9	But you must call me Moom.
1:05.0	Owner of Fulham Football Club, the Ritz Paris, and palaces and villas across Europe.
1:10.7	Best known as the former owner of Luxury London Department Store, Harrods.
1:12.8	There was like a phone system that would go along.
1:14.1	He's coming, he's coming, he's coming.
1:15.8	Genuinely, the phone's been ring. He's coming, he's coming.
1:17.5	I just loved it.
1:20.5	The toy department was exactly like a Wonka factory.
1:24.5	We have royal families from all over the world shopping here every day of the week and spending many millions.
	...

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