Former Harrods chief executive, James McArthur, witnessed “abhorrent” behaviour from Mohamed Al Fayed, but not sexual abuse, he has told the BBC.

The late Harrods owner has been accused of sexual assault and rape by more than 20 women, who spoke to the BBC for a documentary broadcast last week.

Mr McArthur was chief executive at Harrods for ten months in 2008, a time when the Metropolitan police investigated an alleged assault on a 15-year-old girl in a Harrods boardroom.

He says he was unaware of the investigation, even though it was covered in the media at the time, which he says he doesn’t recall.

In a written statement, he told the BBC: “I was indeed CEO of Harrods for a short, and most unpleasant, 10 months during 2008 under Fayed [sic].”

“While Fayed’s behaviour was often abhorrent in many ways, and professional relationships with him were largely dysfunctional, I was not aware of any sexual abuse by him – if I had been, I would have taken action,” he said.

The “abhorrent” behaviour included Fayed’s inappropriate sense of humour, and lack of professional conduct, he said.

Ten months is a very short stint for a chief executive, and turnover of chief executives and other directors was high at Harrods under Fayed’s ownership.

Mr McArthur added: “I was also not aware of a Met Police investigation into Fayed’s conduct during 2008. Fayed would, I imagine, have tried to keep anything like that closely under his control within the secure precinct of the chairman’s office.”

The initial accusation in 2008 and the subsequent investigation were covered in a number of newspaper articles. Questioned about this, Mr McArthur said, “I do not recall that at all.”

A file was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service, who decided there wasn’t enough evidence to secure a conviction.

Mr McArthur added: “I am absolutely horrified by the details of the allegations bravely brought to light through the BBC. My heart goes out to Fayed’s victims, and I do hope very much that they will get the justice and closure that they are seeking.”

After leaving Harrods, Mr McArthur was chief executive of handbag maker Anya Hindmarch for four years, then held a number of roles including chairman of Lulu Guinness, according to his LinkedIn profile. He now lists his occupation as “investor/director/adviser”.

The BBC has contacted a number of former directors of Harrods during Al-Fayed’s ownership.

Yesterday the chief executive of the department store Selfridges, Andre Maeder, who was a director at Harrods for six years between 1996 and 2002, told the BBC he was “horrified” to learn about the alleged rapes and sexual assaults detailed in the documentary, but said he “never saw or heard anything” about this “abhorrent” behaviour.

Richard Simonin, chief executive from 2003 to 2005, declined to comment when contacted by the social networking site LinkedIn.

Harrods was bought by the gulf state of Qatar in 2010. The new owner has admitted that victims were failed, and said it would settle legal claims.

Yesterday it emerged that Harrods is investigating whether current staff were involved in any of the allegations against Fayed, who died last year aged 94.