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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/oct/18/sir-philip-green-criticises-mps-report-bhs-collapse
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| Sir Philip Green criticises 'bizarre' MPs' report on collapse of BHS | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Sir Philip Green has hit back at a report by MPs criticising his role in the collapse of BHS, calling it “bizarre” and beset by “serious factual errors”. | Sir Philip Green has hit back at a report by MPs criticising his role in the collapse of BHS, calling it “bizarre” and beset by “serious factual errors”. |
| A review carried out by Green’s lawyers, Lord Pannick QC and Michael Todd QC, criticised the report’s findings, which held the tycoon responsible for leaving BHS with a £571m pension deficit, taking about £400m in dividends from the retailer and selling the business for £1 in March 2015 to the serial bankrupt Dominic Chappell. | |
| The lawyers said: “These dividends were lawful and were paid at a time when the BHS pension schemes were in surplus. BHS was not sold until 10 years later. The law does not prevent a company from paying dividends because of a risk that the company might become insolvent many years later. | The lawyers said: “These dividends were lawful and were paid at a time when the BHS pension schemes were in surplus. BHS was not sold until 10 years later. The law does not prevent a company from paying dividends because of a risk that the company might become insolvent many years later. |
| “The main causes of the pension deficit were the increasing longevity of pensioners and the global financial crisis in 2008.” | “The main causes of the pension deficit were the increasing longevity of pensioners and the global financial crisis in 2008.” |
| Green claims that he invested more than his family took out in dividends and used the statement to lambast the work and pensions and the business, innovation and skills select committees for “very serious factual and legal errors”. | Green claims that he invested more than his family took out in dividends and used the statement to lambast the work and pensions and the business, innovation and skills select committees for “very serious factual and legal errors”. |
| The review said the committees’ inquiry process was “so unfair that, if parliamentary privilege did not prevent a legal challenge, a court would ‘set aside’ the report”. | The review said the committees’ inquiry process was “so unfair that, if parliamentary privilege did not prevent a legal challenge, a court would ‘set aside’ the report”. |
| On BHS’s sale to Chappell, the statement, issued through Green’s holding company, Taveta Investments, said: “There was nothing unlawful, improper or even unusual about Taveta and Sir Philip Green’s decision to assist Dominic Chappell and Retail Acquisitions Limited in the purchase of BHS. The select committees’ criticism in this regard is bizarre.” |