In an interview with the news for a documentary that aired last week, over twenty women accused the late Harrods owner of rape and sexual abuse.
During the ten months that Mr. McArthur served as chief executive of Harrods in 2008, the Metropolitan Police looked into a report of an alleged attack on a fifteen-year-old girl in a boardroom at the department store.
problematic,Despite the fact that the investigation was reported in the media at the time—a fact he claims he cannot remember—he claims he was unaware of it.
Even though Fayed’s behavior was frequently disgusting in many respects and our professional relationships were generally problematic.
I didn’t know he had abused anyone sexually; if I had, I would have done something about it,” he stated.
According to him, Fayed’s improper sense of humor and lack of professionalism were among the “abhorrent” behaviors.
Ten months is a fairly short tenure for a chief executive, and at Harrods, which Fayed owned, there was a lot of change in chief executives and other directors.
“I was also unaware of a Met Police investigation into Fayed’s conduct during 2008,” Mr. McArthur continued. I believe that anything akin to that would have been closely monitored by Fayed within the secure sanctuary of the chairman’s office.
