Dominic Chappell failed to provide information about BHS pension scheme to investigators, court hears

Former bankrupt was the director of Retail Acquisitions, the company that acquired BHS for £1 from billionaire Sir Philip Green in 2015

Mr Chappell is accused of failing three times to give information to The Pensions Regulator over BHS’s two pension schemes (PA)

Former BHS owner Dominic Chappell failed to provide information about the firm’s pension schemes to investigators after it collapsed into administration with the loss of thousands of jobs, a court heard.

Former bankrupt Mr Chappell was the director of Retail Acquisitions, the company that acquired BHS for £1 from billionaire Sir Philip Green in 2015.

The chain went into administration in April 2016, leaving a £571m pension deficit. Sir Philip later agreed to pay £363m towards it.

Mr Chappell is accused of failing three times to give information to The Pensions Regulator (TPR) over BHS’s two pension schemes, which had a combined 19,000 members, Brighton Magistrates’ Court heard.

Alex Stein, prosecuting for TPR, said: “On 11 March 2015, BHS, the retail chain, was sold to Retail Acquisitions Ltd.

“At the time it had some 11,000 employees and the regulator had some concerns over the two pension schemes that it had in place.

“These two schemes had more than 19,000 members: past and present employees.

“As of March 2015 the deficit of the combined schemes was in the region of £500m.

“The regulator then launched an investigation into the sale.

“Mr Chappell was the director and majority shareholder of Retail Acquisitions, which bought BHS for a nominal £1 sum.”

He said Mr Chappell had been requested to provide information to TPR under the Pensions Act on two occasions in April and May 2016 and a third time in February 2017.

Mr Stein added: “Despite numerous reminders and assurances from the defendant and his advisers nothing has been received in relation to the [first] two notices.”

The third notice relates to a request by TPR for information from Mr Chappell about an alleged leak of information from a confidential “warning notice” sent out in November 2016, the court heard.

Mr Chappell’s lawyer Michael Levy told the hearing that the day the notice was sent out “in security that would make 007 proud”, he received a call from someone who did not give a name but said they were from The Daily Telegraph.

Mr Levy said: “The person who is speaking on the telephone starts quoting paragraphs and pages from the warning notice.

“He [Mr Chappell] tells his instructed solicitor. He phones the office of TPR that day and speaks to someone he doesn’t know. He reports that. Later on, some weeks later he reports that in a letter to TPR. He has reported it.”

Mr Stein told the court there was no record of Mr Chappell’s phone call, adding: “That account has never been given to the regulator before, ‘I took a call from someone from The Telegraph’.”

Mr Chappell sat in the dock making notes on a tablet during the opening of the four-day trial.

A request for him to be allowed to sit with his legal team in the court room was rejected by District Judge William Ashworth.

He denies three charges of neglecting or refusing to provide information and documents, without a reasonable excuse, contrary to the Pensions Act 2004.

PA