Ex-BHS owner Dominic Chappell is due in court today to answer charges relating to the sale of the collapsed department store chain.
The Pensions Regulator has accused Chappell of failing to comply with notices issued under Section 72 of the Pensions Act 2004.
The regulator said they requested he provide information for the investigation on three separate occasions: April 26 and May 13 last year and February 20 this year.
Chappell has been summonsed in August to appear at Brighton Magistrates‘ Court today, to face three charges of neglecting or refusing to provide information and documents without a reasonable excuse.
A former bankrupt, Chappell headed Retail Acquisitions, the firm that bought BHS off Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia Group retail empire for £1 in March 2015.
BHS plunged into administration 13 months later, affecting 11,000 jobs and around 19,000 pension holders due to a £571 million pension deficit.
Under Chappell’s leadership, £8.4 million was taken out of BHS by Retail Acquisitions, with £6 million still owed when it collapsed last year.
The Serious Fraud Office and the Insolvency Service are also carrying out their own investigations into the retailer’s demise.
Retail Acquisitions itself was put into liquidation in May, although Chappell said at the time he would challenge the court ruling.
The parliamentary inquiry and drawn out public battle over BHS‘s demise led to Green agreeing to pay £363 million to settle his share of BHS pension deficit in February.
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