Mohamed Al Fayed was interviewed by police yesterday in connection with an allegation of sexual assault against a 15-year-old schoolgirl.

The Harrods owner has reportedly been accused of “French kissing” the teenager at the department store in Knightsbridge, West London.

Mr Al Fayed, 75, strenuously denied any wrongdoing and said he was concerned that details of the police interview had been revealed shortly after it ended.

He went voluntarily to Twickenham police station with his solicitor at 11am to answer questions under caution.

The inquiry is being led by Scotland Yard’s Operation Sapphire, which investigates sexual offences across London. There have been no arrests so far.

The alleged victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told police that she was kissed and fondled by a male executive after first meeting him while shopping with her mother, The Mail on Sunday reported earlier this year.

It is believed that detectives have interviewed her several times, with recordings made on video. She is reported to have claimed that the man had asked for her telephone number and later invited her back to the store. She is alleged to have claimed in a statement to detectives that he started to rub her back, hugged her and fondled her breasts before kissing her full on the lips and attempting to force his tongue into her mouth. The schoolgirl, from Surrey, claimed that as she left the room he told her “not to tell anyone”.

Yesterday the Metropolitan Police said: “We can confirm that a man attended a West London police station by prior arrangement and was questioned under caution this morning. The man was questioned in relation to an allegation of sexual assault on a girl under 16 at a business premises in Central London. The allegation was received in May 2008.”

Interviews under caution carried out under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 are not deemed to be an accusation of guilt.

Detectives are also reported to have questioned members of Harrods staff and plan to reinterview the alleged victim and other potential witnesses. A file of evidence is likely to be sent to the Crown Prosecution Service to decide if charges should be brought.

Mr Al Fayed’s spokeswoman yesterday vehemently denied the allegation of sexual assault. She said that the meeting had lasted for less than 30 minutes. “We confirm that Mohamed Al Fayed today voluntarily attended an interview with police to categorically refute an allegation widely reported in the media,” she said.

“From the outset details of this allegation have appeared in the media which they attributed to a police source, and indeed despite assurances that today’s interview would be kept confidential, he is concerned that it was reported within one hour of its conclusion.

“Mr Al Fayed vehemently denies this allegation and is confident that his name will be cleared.”

Mr Al Fayed, who came to Britain in the 1970s, has clashed with the Establishment over his failure to secure a British passport and controversy over his purchase of Harrods. After the deaths of his son Dodi and Diana, Princess of Wales, in a car crash in 1997, he claimed that they had been murdered in an Establishment plot. He abandoned his campaign in April after an inquest jury’s verdict of unlawful killing due to the gross negligence of the driver, Henri Paul, and the paparazzi who were pursuing the couple.

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