BHS demise saw directors gain great wealth as workers lost pensions

UK MPs have further scrutinized Sir Philip Green's accountability following the collapse of department store chain BHS.

According to their parliamentary report, Green is in part responsible of 'repeated failure' as the evidence unveiled gross misjudgments surrounding the chain's demise.

Perhaps most damning is that MPs have judged the billionaire and his family to have “walked away greatly enriched” and "accrued incredible wealth" from the department store but left “many losers”, including thousands of staff and pensioners, and hundreds of companies in its supply chain, noted the Sunday Times.

Sir Philip Green acted in self-interest in the quick sell-off of BHS

Sir Philip Green acted solely in self-interest in the quick sell-off of his struggling chain, practically giving it away for one pound to former bankrupt businessman Dominic Chappell, who in the report is regarded as a "manifestly unsuitable purchaser."

The result will be a moral verdict expecting Green to correct the error of his ways and pay towards the pension scheme and store collapse.

In an interesting turn of events, Green, who is yet to publicly take accountability for the BHS collapse, is pointing the finger at Chappell, as the Arcadia Group is threatening to take legal action over the sum of 12 million pounds which was allegedly misused, according to the Mail on Sunday.

Arcadia Group, which owns Topshop and Dorothy Perkins, believes Chappell's company failed to honor its contractual obligations to invest the much needed funds into the ailing BHS chain.

On the day of the handover, a sum of 7 million pounds was withdrawn

A sum of 7 million pounds was taken out of the business just hours after its takeover in March 2015 by Chappell's company Retail Acquisitions Ltd. The cash was said to have been used to pay fees to the new owners and their advisers.

Last month a report was published with the financial information sent from Chappell's company advisers to The Pensions Regulator, which details some of the loans taken by Retail Acquisitions Ltd (RAL), and BHS monies paid to RAL directors. The amounts laid out include 400,000 pounds apiece to Stephen Bourne and Mark Tasker, both of whom resigned their directorships the day the BHS sale to RAL completed, and a further 460,000 pounds to Eddie Parladorio.

The directors of RAL – who were paid very handsomely for their role in the sale – cannot escape scrutiny for the plight of BHS

Rt Hon Frank Field MP, Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, said: "While the main focus of this inquiry has been the stewardship of BHS and its pension fund in the run up to the sale to RAL, and the exact circumstances of that sale, the directors of RAL – who were paid very handsomely for their role in the sale – cannot escape scrutiny for the plight of BHS and its pension fund.

Photo credit: BHS, Wikipedia; Sir Philip Green, BBC