Ex-boss of BHS faces huge fine after court conviction
THE former owner of BHS faces a huge fine after he was convicted yesterday of not providing information to the pensions watchdog.
Dominic Chappell, who bought the ailing company from Sir Philip Green for £1, failed to hand over legally required information to investigators three times, a court decided.
The 51-year-old has vowed to appeal against the verdict and any fine imposed. There is no limit to how large that could be.
Chappell said outside Brighton magistrates’ court last night: “I’m extremely disappointed and annoyed about the outcome.
“I’m putting in an immediate application for an appeal in this case which we will be doing tomorrow.”
BHS collapsed in 2015 under Chappell’s ownership, leaving a £571million pensions deficit in two schemes with more than 19,000 members between them.
Sir Philip later agreed to pay £363million to lessen the gap.
Self-described entrepreneur Chappell was convicted of three charges under the Pensions Act 2004. He had been requested to provide information to The Pensions Regulator on two occasions in April and May 2016 and for a third time in February 2017 but each time failed to do so.
Chappell is the first person to be convicted after denying such an offence and going to trial, the regulator said.
During the course of the proceedings at Brighton magistrates’ court Chappell was described by his defence lawyer as a “scapegoat” in the wake of the chain folding.
But he was found to have had no reasonable excuse for not providing the information requested by the regulator, with the prosecution suggesting he had been “making up the defence as he goes along”.
Chappell, of Winterborne Clenston, near Blandford Forum in Dorset, will be sentenced next week.