Harrods: The red flags passed when Qatar bought Al Fayed’s store

Catriona Watt, partner at Fox & Partners, says it appears Qatar knew about the allegations but went ahead anyway.

“It seems to me that it wasn’t a complete secret. It was probably a calculated risk,” she says, adding that the due diligence process “depends on the questions you ask.”

“You might say, ‘I only want to know this if it has value X,'” she says.

Virginia Albert, a former marketing professor and current account director at advertising agency DeVito/Verdi, also believes Qatar’s views on women’s rights are relevant, suggesting that they may not have considered the sexual abuse allegations serious enough to justify scrapping the deal .

“You could argue that brands are guided by brand values ​​when they merge,” she says, adding that the Gulf state would have considered whether its values ​​“were consistent with what they would know about the values ​​of this department store if they knew.” .

Lazard, who represented the Al Fayed Trust during the deal, told the BBC: “We strongly condemn the behavior that these reports have brought to light.”

Harrods and the Qatar Investment Authority did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the due diligence process involved in purchasing the company. In its previous response to the BBC, Harrods said it had been settling the claims “since new information came to light last year”.

Meanwhile, Harrods chief executive Michael Ward said on Thursday: “It is true that there are rumours [Al Fayed’s] Conduct that was in the public eye was never raised or raised against me by the police [Crown Prosecution Service]internal channels or others.

“If they had been, of course I would have acted immediately.”

Credit Suisse, now owned by UBS, represented the Qatar Investment Authority in the deal and declined to comment.