The news that the late Egyptian tycoon and owner of Harrod’s, Mohamed Al Fayed (Mohamed Al Fayed), has been accused after the death of several female former employees of rape and sexual assault is on the front page of all the international media.

According to testimonies from more than 20 female former employees, the billionaire, who died last year at the age of 94, sexually assaulted or raped them.

In fact, there is evidence that during Al Fayed’s ownership the company not only failed to intervene, but helped to cover up the affairs.

For their part, the owners of Harrods said they were “absolutely appalled” by the allegations and offered a sincere apology to the victims.

Al Fayed faced allegations of sexual assault while he was alive, but these allegations are unprecedented in scale and seriousness. The BBC believes many more women may have been attacked.

The news is making the rounds as Mohammed al-Fayed became world famous after his son Dodi’s relationship with Princess Diana – the pair were killed in a 1997 car crash in Paris.

The shocking testimonies of the women were pre-published by the BBC, while the documentary entitled “Al Fayed: A Predator at Harrods” is to be shown later today.

Self-made, bigoted and… half-hearted

Mohammed Al Fayed was born in the Roshdy district of Alexandria, but always hid his age. Although he claimed to have been born in 1933, official documents list his birth year as 1929.

Risky and ambitious, he embarked on a business career, selling soft drinks and sewing machines on the streets of Alexandria – leaving no opportunity unexploited. Indeed, according to the first episode of “The Crown” featuring al-Fayed, the then-teenager Mohammed saw former King Edward and Wallis Simpson arrive at the nearby British consulate, their car door being opened by an impeccably dressed young man black. “I want to fit in with them, I want to be like them, have strength like them” the boy later tells his siblings,

The 1954 met and married Samira Khashoggi (Samira Khashoggi – sister of millionaire Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi) – with whom he had a son, Dodi al-Fayed.

This was his first weddingwho helped him cultivate new relationships and build her empire of. Adnan Khashoggi (uncle of murdered dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi) hired him into his business and Mohammed became from a traveling salesman of the arms market.

The couple divorced two years later, a few months after Dodi was born. According to Islamic law, after their divorce, al Fayed assumed full custody of their son and Sharmira left Egypt, returning to her homeland.

Mohammed al Fayed moved to Genoa, Italy in 1958 and then to London in 1964. Two years later he became an adviser to the Sultan of Brunei and founded his own shipping company, Genevaco.

By the time he moved to the UK in 1974 he was already a well-known public figure, even using the name “Al-Fayed” instead of “Fayed” as believed that the addition of ‘Al implied aristocratic originlike “de” in French or “von” in German.

In 1979 he bought the famous hotel Ritz in Paris and in 1985 he bought them Harrods in London, in another attempt to gain the favor of the royal family and British citizenship – for this he tried all his life, even taking advantage of his son’s relationship with Princess Diana, but he never succeeded.

TIn 1985 he also married the Finnish former model Heini Wathénwith whom he had four children, but always treated as “trophy». But he stayed with her until the end of his life.

Mohamed al-Fayed also owned the English football club Fulham, which he bought in 1997 which he then sold in 2013 to Pakistan’s Shahid Khan.

In 2018, three women denounced al-Fayed for sexual abuse.

He died at the age of 94 in London, a day before the 26th anniversary of the death of his son, Dodi, whom they say he never got over, always blaming the British royal family as moral perpetrators.