‘Sir Philip Green had bin bags of papers shredded in £1 sale of BHS’
Mass disposal behind office, court told
SIR Philip Green’s staff shredded “bin bags of documents” over the sale of BHS, it was claimed in court.
Dominic Chappell, who bought the chain from Sir Philip for £1 a year before it collapsed, claimed an “industrial size shredder” was located in a “van or a lorry” behind Green’s Arcadia office.
He told a judge: “We didn’t know until after we bought the company. They were putting bin bags of documents into it.”
Chappell is accused of keeping inside information from The Pensions Regulator. BHS went bust in April 2016, with a £571million pension deficit, leaving 19,000 employees out of pocket.
When he bought the firm in March 2015, the pension black hole stood at £500million. Chappell told the court a meeting between TPR and his firm was set up days after the takeover. He said: “We offered every assistance to help find detail hidden from them for a decade.”
Referring to one meeting, he said: “Is this the meeting where we got on so well they asked me to be a witness, presumably in the prosecution of Philip Green?”
Chappell also claimed evidence was being held in “secrecy” by TPR so as not to “embarrass Philip Green”. And, in farcical scenes yesterday, Chappell forgot his age, first insisting he was 50 before later admitting he was 51.
The former racing driver, of Blandford Forum, Dorset, denies three charges of failing to provide information and documents, without a reasonable excuse.
The case is expected to finish today.