Former British Home Stores owner Dominic Chappell is being prosecuted by The Pensions Regulator for failing to provide information and documents during the investigation into the department store's sale.
Mr Chappell was the director and majority shareholder of Retail Acquisitions when the company bought BHS from Sir Philip Green's Arcadia Group for £1.
BHS went into administration in April 2016, putting workers' retirement nest eggs at risk and TPR has been investigating the case since.
In the end a £363m settlement with Sir Philip was reached to fund a new independent pension scheme for 19,000 former BHS workers.
This will give future pensioners the option of the same starting pension as they were orIginally promised by BHS, and higher benefits than they would get from the Pension Protection Fund (PPF).
TPR is prosecuting Mr Chappell for failing to comply with three notices issued under Section 72 of the Pensions Act 2004. The notices requiring information were issued to Mr Chappell on 26 April 2016, 13 May 2016 and 20 February 2017.
He has been summonsed to appear at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on 20 September to face three charges of neglecting or refusing to provide information and documents.
The regulator has the power to require pension schemes, employers and third parties to provide information and documents relevant to the TPR functions.
Failure to provide such information without a reasonable excuse is a criminal offence which can result in an unlimited fine.
maria.espadinha@ft.com
