A parliamentary inquiry into the collapse of BHS will investigate the role of Sir Philip Green’s wife, Lady Christina Green, after it found the billionaire and former BHS owner was unable to provide satisfactory answers to all of their questions in a hearing on Wednesday (15 June).
In the six-hour select committee hearing, Sir Philip was grilled on his knowledge of the pension’s £571m deficit, his dealings with The Pension Regulator, and his sale of BHS for £1 to three-times bankrupt Dominic Chappell in 2015.
During the hearing in Westminster yesterday (15 June) Sir Philip claimed he had no knowledge the pension scheme was in deficit until 2012 - 12 years after he bought the retail giant - but promised to help solve the situation for members.
He gave no details on what this solution would look like.
He doesn’t only have to satisfy The Pensions Regulator, today he is before the bar of public opinion. Frank FieldIn a statement following the hearing, the select committee’s co-chairs, MPs Frank Field and Iain Wright, welcomed Sir Philip’s commitment to the members, saying they hoped he would come up with an “offer that is satisfactory to The Pensions Regulator”.
“However, he doesn’t only have to satisfy The Pensions Regulator, today he is before the bar of public opinion. Much of his reputation now depends on how generously he responds,” they said.
“Today’s evidence raised a host of further questions and we first want to get much more detail on the structure of various companies, particularly those owned by Lady Cristina Green, the profits they have made and the tax they have paid.”
Monaco resident Lady Green is the owner of Arcadia, the company that owned BHS and of which Sir Philip is chair.
She was also therefore the recipient of hundreds of millions of pounds-worth of dividends that were paid out of BHS at the same time that the pension scheme was going into massive deficit.
During the hearing yesterday (15 June), Sir Philip claimed he never looked at his wife’s accounts.
He also claimed he had never had on offshore bank account.
The committee co-chairs stated: “We have more witnesses scheduled at the end of June and in the last few days we have received a huge amount of further evidence.
“We have many further questions for Sir Philip, particularly the big questions on the pension fund that he was unable to answer.”
james.fernyhough@ft.com
