Why he MUST pay back every penny of £8.7m

SINCE the Woodford debacle began in earnest in June, the fund manager has for the most part been holed up in his Oxford offices.

Throughout, he has steadfastly refused to speak to the press – Wealth made another request to speak to him on Tuesday in the aftermath of confirmation that Equity Income was being wound up, but it was turned down by external public relations enforcer Roland Cross. An email sent direct to Neil Woodford asking for an interview was also ignored, although he did respond in writing to criticisms levelled by Peter Hargreaves.

The only ‘public’ appearances he has deemed to make in recent months were to financial advisers he was keen to keep on side while there was a chance of Equity Income reopening its doors and Woodford Investment Management surviving. He never once sat before investors and explained why things had gone so wrong. A little bit of mea culpa might have saved his business.

Investors believe that at the very least, Woodford should now be hauled before the allpowerful Treasury Select Committee, grilled (verbally, not physically) and asked to account for his mismanagement of the three funds – and defend his decision to keep taking fees from Equity Income when it was suspended. The committee has a fine record in holding big names to account – for example, retailer Philip Green.

John Astall, a retired chartered accountant from Warrington in Cheshire, is one of many Woodford investors who believes the fund manager should be forced to squirm before the committee. He said: ‘I recently watched Peter Fankhauser, chief executive of failed Thomas Cook, grilled and humiliated by members of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee. Woodford should face a similar examination. We need answers from him as to how he could have got things so horribly wrong.

‘He should also be asked a simple question, face to face: “Will you return the £8.7 million of fees taken from Equity Income since the fund was suspended in June?” ’