NOW CALL FOR LADY SHIFTY!
As squirming Green tells BHS inquiry his wife controls their secretive off-shore accounts
TINA Green was last night facing an interrogation by MPs after her husband tried to shift the blame for the collapse of BHS.
In an ill-tempered Parliamentary hearing, Sir Philip Green complained he had been treated like a ‘ murderer’ since the demise of the 88-year-old High Street retailer in April.
The astonishing outburst of selfpity came as the billionaire finally apologised to the 11,000 people who have lost their jobs.
But Sir Philip – dubbed ‘Sir Shifty’ by critics – stunned MPs by insisting he was unable to hand over secretive off- shore company accounts, which are held in Lady Green’s name. The 64-year-old said he never looked at the accounts of the family empire, which controls Topshop and Dorothy Perkins, adding: ‘I have never made or moved 1p from any bank account of our company and I wouldn’t even know where to call to get it out.’
Iain Wright, the Labour chairman of the Commons business, innovation and skills committee, said it was ‘extraordinary’ that Sir Philip did not have access to his wife’s overseas accounts. Speaking after the hearing, Mr Wright accused Sir Philip of trying to shift the blame for the collapse of BHS, adding: ‘He didn’t want to blame anyone but went on to blame a remarkably big list of people.’
Mr Wright said MPs would require ‘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’.
Lady Green is now expected to be
‘He blamed a big list of people’
summoned by the committee. She is the nominal owner of Sir Philip’s Arcadia retail empire and his £3.2 billion fortune. She lives in the tax haven of Monaco, allowing the couple to legally avoid an estimated £ 130 million tax bill on money extracted from BHS alone.
But Sir Philip – who insisted he moved to Monaco because of poor health – hit back at criticism of his tax affairs, telling MPs: ‘Envy and jealousy, my doctor told me, are two incurable diseases. I have done nothing wrong.’
During the marathon six-hour hearing, Sir Philip promised to ‘sort out’ BHS’s stricken pensions scheme, which has a £571 million black hole. But he refused to guarantee that members will receive all of their pension, saying that plans were still being drawn up.
Sir Philip expressed his regret over the collapse of the retailer, saying ‘nothing is more sad than how this has ended’. He added: ‘I just want to apologise to all the BHS people who are involved in this.’
But the entrepreneur consistently shifted the blame on his bankers, advisers, the Pensions Regulator and the trustees of the pension scheme, who he accused of making ‘stupid, stupid, idiotic mistakes’.
And he said he was convinced by advisers at Goldman Sachs to sell the business for £1 to three-times bankrupt Dominic Chappell – who was introduced to his lieutenants via convicted fraudster Paul Sutton.
Unshaven and sporting a deep tan, Sir Philip repeatedly lost his temper, telling one MP: ‘Stop staring at me, it’s disturbing’, and accusing another of trying to ‘bully’ him.
He branded MPs ‘disgusting’ and ‘rude’ for accusing him of trying to block the sale of BHS to Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley because of his ‘ego’. Asked why Mr Ashley’s bid failed, Sir Philip produced a chequebook from his pocket and said: ‘Because of one of these’, indicating the offer was too low.
Sir Philip also lashed out at Press criticism, saying: ‘ In terms of the last four weeks, I could be a murderer given what they write about me. I haven’t got any guns – some of the stuff that has been written about me is outrageous.’ It led Mr Wright to accuse him of being ‘thinskinned’ and a dominant figure, suggesting this raises concerns about the way he conducts business.
WHY I TOOK £423M OUT
one of the main accusations made against Sir Philip was that he and his wife took the bulk of £423 million in dividends out of BHS between 2002
and 2004, before the retailer’s finances deteriorated. But Sir Philip hit back at claims that by enriching themselves, the couple had endangered the business. He said that he had not employed an ‘aggressive finance strategy’ and that the firm’s debts were well under control at the time. He added that he had ploughed more than £600 million into the business between 2004 and 2009 – after he had taken out the huge dividends.
‘STUPID MISTAKES’ OF TRUSTEES
When Sir Philip took over BHS in 2000, its pensions scheme was well funded and had a surplus. But years of underfunding, a crash in the financial markets and record low interest rates have blown a £571million black hole in the scheme.
Sir Philip told MPs he had very little to do with the scheme, relying on the trustees and their advisers to make sure it was properly funded. The tycoon said he became more involved in 2012, when the pension scheme registered a £232 million deficit.
Admitting that ultimately the state of the scheme was ‘my fault’, Sir Philip said the trustees made some ‘stupid, stupid, idiotic mistakes’, and should have flagged up the problems earlier.
I CAN SORT OUT PENSIONS CRISIS
Up to 22,000 workers face losing 10 per cent of their retirement income if the scheme is passed to the Pension Protection Fund.
But Sir Philip told MPs he was determined this will not happen and said he was in discussions with regulators over an alternative rescue package. Offering no details, he said: ‘From what I’ve seen, I would say it’s resolvable, it’s sortable. We will sort it, we will find a solution and I want to give my assurances to the 20,0000 pensioners that I am here to sort this.’
I HADN’T HEARD OF CHAPPELL
Sir Philip admitted he had never heard of Dominic Chappell when the former racing driver made an approach to buy BHS.
He said he was aware that Mr Chappell had been bankrupt once, but it later emerged he had been bankrupt three times. Sir Philip said: ‘Disney and Heinz were once bankrupt. Entrepreneurs do go bankrupt. It doesn’t mean they can’t go on to do well.’
He said he was persuaded by his advisers, Goldman Sachs, that Mr Chappell was ‘credible’, adding: ‘One million per cent, I would not have done a deal with him if Goldman Sachs had said “do not do a deal with him”.’
WE WEREN’T TRYING TO AVOID TAX
Sir Philip said his family’s decision to move to Monte Carlo was not about tax. He added: ‘We left here in 1998 because of my heart scare. We left for personal reasons. We didn’t own any businesses. I came back in 2000 but my family remained out of the country.’