The Pensions Regulator has confirmed it will prosecute former BHS owner Dominic Chappell over his role in the retailer’s collapse
He is charged with failing to provide information and documents the regulator requested during its investigation into the sale of BHS. Chappell was the director and majority shareholder of Retail Acquisitions Ltd at the time that the company purchased BHS.
The regulator is prosecuting Chappell for failing to comply with three notices issued under Section 72 of the Pensions Act 2004. The notices requiring information were issued to him on 26 April 2016, 13 May 2016 and 20 February 2017.
Chappell’s Retail Acquisitions Limited (RAL) vehicle bought BHS in 2015 from Sir Philip Green. The high street retailer went into administration just over a year later, at which point Retail Acquisitions Ltd owed around £6m to BHS.
RAL was put into liquidiation in May 2017.
He has been summonsed to appear at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on 20 September 2017 to face three charges of neglecting or refusing to provide information and documents, without a reasonable excuse.
In February 2017, Sir Philip Green agreed to pay up to £363m into the BHS pension pot, having promised to ‘sort’ the retailer’s shortfall in a parliamentary inquiry last year. Ultimately, the hole in the pension scheme reached £571m. Administrators from Duff & Phelps confirmed the orderly wind down of the retailer and its 163 stores in June 2016.
