Select committee chairman attacks Sir Philip Green ahead of BHS probe

The chairman of a cross-party committee examining the collapse of BHS has said the retailer’s former owner Sir Philip Green has “enormous questions” to answer surrounding the sale of the 88-year old high street chain, accusing him of “crash[ing] it into a cliff”.

Iain Wright, chairman of the Business Select Committee, launched a scathing attack against Sir Philip on Monday, while also drawing attention to the current owner, Dominic Chappell’s, role in the business.

Sir Green is facing a double inquisition over the firm's demise, with the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee (BISC) probing the £1 sale of BHS to Mr Chappell in 2015, in which he took on a £571 million pension deficit.

Both he and his wife, Tina Green, have been summoned by MPs to answer questions as part of a probe into the outflow of cash from the company and its pension pot. Mr Chappell, who has previously faced bankruptcy, has also been called to give evidence.

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The company went into administration last week after 88 years on the British high street – with around 11,000 jobs believed to be at risk.

Retail Acquisitions has claimed it spent £10,000,001 to buy BHS, as it invested £10m in shares in addition to the store's £1 price tag.

Mr Wright said the Business Select Committee panel will ask Sir Green whether his stewardship of the firm and the sale to Mr Chappell had been "appropriate".

Speaking to Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: "Something like £414 million was taken out of BHS in dividends over a four-year period and that's when the pension scheme was slipping into deficit.

"So it's a case of 'is it right that people can buy a company, strip it, in many respects, of cash in terms of dividends without real regard to pensions or to employees and then sell it for a pound to untried and untested people who then crash it into a cliff?"

“The question that we want to ask Sir Philip Green is, ‘You bought BHS, took enormous sums out of the business, the pension scheme went from surplus to deficit and then you sold it for a pound to somebody who was twice bankrupt and who had no experience whatsoever of the retail sector – is that appropriate stewardship of a big, important company?’”

“We are keen to find out who knew what, when. This issue over the sale and acquisition of BHS raises enormous questions.”

The MPs are also due to consider whether the regulatory system was working effectively.

Mr Wright added: "Does the system put in place a system of asset stripping rather than long-term value for a company?

“When you sell a business do you have any further responsibility or do you start to crash it into the cliff and then bail out just before it does crash?

"Those are things we want to look at on the business select committee and we also want to see whether the system is fit for purpose in making sure we can create long-term value rather than making sure that people can extract value out of businesses to the detriment of employees and to the detriment, ultimately, potentially, of the taxpayer.”

Mr Wright's committee and the Work and Pensions Select Committee will hold joint hearings into the collapse of BHS.