I fear this could be one of the greatest scandals of recent times
ALMOST 25 years ago, the body of the newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell was found floating in the Atlantic ocean near his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine. Shortly afterwards, the rogue’s publishing empire collapsed and it emerged that he had stolen hundreds of millions of pounds from his company pension funds.
Not surprisingly, many in the City are comparing this notorious financial scandal with the recent collapse of High Street retailer BHS.
As with Maxwell’s publishing empire, it is not merely the business that has gone bust. The pension scheme of the firm once known as British Home Stores is also in terrible trouble.
It looks as though it may have to be bailed out by as much as £300 million, while the potential liabilities exceed £500 million.
It is essential to stress that Sir Philip, the former owner of BHS, has not broken the law. Unlike Robert Maxwell, he did not steal from the company pension fund.
But for members of the BHS pension scheme, the outlook is similarly appalling.
When he bought BHS 16 years ago, the pension fund (which financed the retirement of approximately 20,000 employees) was fully funded and there were no concerns for its future. However, that was no longer the case last year when Sir Philip sold BHS to Dominic Chappell, a former racing driver who had been bankrupted three times.
According to a Financial Times estimate, during his time at the helm of the firm, Sir Philip Green and his family took more than £1 billion out of the BHS business. (A spokesman for Sir Philip last night challenged this figure and said it was much less than that.)
Much of the money was paid as dividends to Sir Philip’s wife, Tina, in the offshore tax haven of Monaco, where there is a zero per cent rate of income tax and where she has set up home on a superyacht.
TO THE couple who live a life of unbelievable luxury, I would ask one question: Can you not see how utterly reprehensible it is to take hundreds of millions of pounds out of a business then allow the pension fund to sink into such a severe deficit that its members no longer have a secure financial future?
Sir Philip called me late yesterday to say he had made an offer to the pensions regulator which he claimed would have solved the problem. But the regulator rejected it.
His spokesman had told me that the fall in values after the 2008 financial crash was to blame. I don’t think this explanation is anything like good enough.
I believe in the capitalist system. However, Sir Philip appears not to acknowledge that capitalists have obligations. While reports suggest he previously proposed a rescue plan two years ago, and offered to put £ 80 million into the BHS pension scheme, he appears to have focused on making money for himself without due regard to his wider duties to society and, above all, to his employees.
Yet this man has been widely celebrated. Tony Blair sanctioned a knighthood for him. And David Cameron appointed him to head a review of government waste.
So the story of BHS and its pension fund reveals a great deal about the kind of country that the United Kingdom has become, and the values we espouse.
That is why — as with the Maxwell scandal — the collapse of BHS is not just a financial but also a political scandal. So how was Sir Philip able to conduct himself in the way that he has without breaking the law?
It is only right that MPs have launched an inquiry. Next week, the first of two parliamentary committees will begin collecting evidence about BHS’s collapse.
However, tempers have already frayed, with Sir Philip reacting angrily to the suggestion of Labour MP Frank Field, chair of the work and pensions select committee, that he should pay £571 million to the pension fund or ‘be stripped of his knighthood’. The embattled tycoon called for Field to step down as he was ‘clearly prejudiced’.
Undeterred, the respected MP recruited to the committee’s panel of financial assessors Lord Myners — an arch enemy of Sir Philip, whose attempt to take over Marks & Spencer he famously foiled in 2004. Crucially, the committee must find out why alarm bells failed to go off the moment Sir Philip announced that he was selling BHS to Dominic Chappell, a three-times bankrupt with at best a dubious reputation.
MPs will hear from a number of witnesses. First and foremost, huge questions surround the role of Goldman Sachs, the most powerful and influential investment bank in the world, whose former directors include Bank of England governor Mark Carney. Again and again, Goldman Sachs has been involved in unfortu- nate and even disreputable business transactions over the years.
It was an adviser to Robert Maxwell at the time of his death, and bid jointly alongside Sir Philip for Marks & Spencer. (Indeed, one wonders what might have become of that greatly loved national institution — and its pension fund — had Sir Philip got his hands on it.)
Goldman Sachs was also involved in the fateful BHS bid.
Anthony Gutman, Goldman’s cohead of investment banking, advised Sir Philip on an ‘informal’ basis.
MPs must discover from Mr Gutman what ‘informal’ guidance he gave. Was Goldman Sachs’s management aware of his role? Was he acting only out of friendship? Did he discuss the future of the BHS pension fund? Most importantly, what assurances did Mr Gutman give about the suitability of triple- bankrupt Dominic Chappell as a buyer for BHS?
They also need to know what care the firm’s pension trustees took to protect the interests of its pensioners. What was their opinion of the terrible deal between Sir Philip and Dominic Chappell? Did they raise objections? Or were they too scared of Green — a notorious bully?
SIMILAR questions surround pensions regulator, Lesley Titcomb. Why didn’t she hit the alarm button in March last year when Sir Philip announced he was selling it to a dodgy, serial bankrupt?
But the biggest questions face Sir Philip Green himself when he appears before the parliamentary committee on June 15.
Why did he apparently carry out inadequate due diligence on Dominic Chappell’s suitability as a buyer?
In the light of all this, Parliament has the right to demand that Sir Philip Green also gives a crystal clear update on the group pension fund for Arcadia, the retail group he chairs. It is much larger than BHS’s and the scope for disaster is even greater.
It is only fair that we wait to hear Sir Philip’s version of events before reaching a final judgment on his conduct.
But Sir Philip is a very rich man indeed. Reports say that he and his family are worth more than £3 billion. He could easily afford to write a cheque that would guarantee the financial future of every BHS pensioner, and scarcely notice the dent in his bank balance.
I advise him to take that simple step as soon as he can. Otherwise his name — like Robert Maxwell’s — will live in infamy for ever.