BHS owner who wouldn’t come clean over pension black hole

Dominic chappell, the former owner of BHS, faces an unlimited fine and a demand for £10m to plug the firm’s pension black hole

in the first case of its kind, the pensions regulator proved that chappell (pictured yesterday) had failed to provide documents that would have laid bare the full scale of the crisis facing BHS.

it now paves the way for future prosecutions of bosses who obstruct officials when they are trying to get to the bottom of financial issues facing companies.

After being found guilty of refusing to provide vital documents to the pensions regulator, chappell claimed that he had been made a political scapegoat for the High Street chain’s failure.

chappell, 51, who claimed to be a racing car driver, bought BHS from billionaire Sir Philip Green for £1 in march 2015. Days later The Pensions Regulator demanded hundreds of documents from him in relation to the firm’s £571m pension black hole.

The 88-year-old company crashed just 13 months later with the loss of around 11,000 jobs and 164 stores.

The regulator, which has a responsibility to safeguard pensions, moved to protect the savings of 19,000 members. it agreed a deal with Sir Philip that he should pay £363m towards the deficit.

And it charged chappell with neglecting or refusing to respond to three notices demanding he hand over vital documents and information relating to the purchase of BHS. chappell was hauled before Brighton magistrates’ court to answer the allegations.

in a four-day trial, which featured moments of hilarity – when chappell forgot his own age – and technical arguments over pensions rules, chappell said he had been set up to fail.

But district judge William Ashworth said some of the evidence given by chappell was ‘not credible’, with some of his explanations making no sense. He was found guilty of all charges and he now faces an unlimited fine for failing to comply with the notices.

Judge Ashworth said: ‘All the requests made were valid and reasonable and all the time frames to fulfil these requests were also reasonable.’

He said some of the evidence was ‘incomprehensible’ and the excuses for not providing the information were unreliable.

The thrice-bankrupt chappell, said he would lodge an appeal. Last night he said: ‘i am extremely disappointed and annoyed about the outcome. it is not the one we were looking for. We feel this case has not been treated fairly and we will look deeply into this.’

michael Levy, defending, had earlier told the court that chappell was a ‘political scapegoat’ for BHS’s failure, claiming the case was a ‘show trial’. chappell of Blandford Forum, Dorset, will be sentenced at a later date.