Dominic Chappell has told Hove Crown Court that he did “everything in his power” to provide information to the Pensions Regulator in order to retrieve £363 million from Arcadia owner Sir Philip Green.
The former BHS boss continued his week in court as he attempts to appeal a conviction for failing to provide the Pensions Regulator with information about the firms pension schemes.
In January three-time bankruptee Chappell was fined £50,000 after being found guilty of failing to provide vital information that which would have helped secure funds from Green to plug the £571 million pensions deficit left after the fall of BHS.
He told the appeal hearing today that he “was absolutely swamped with work and I got round to it as soon as practicable. I believed I acted in a proper and accurate way.
“At the same time I was dealing with the insolvency of a company employing 11,000 people… You have no idea the pressure and the work strains coming down on me at that time.
“I was drowning in paperwork from five other government departments, I had some major challenges ahead of me, I was a single individual, I got round to it as expediently as possible.”
The prosecution alleged that Chappell “failed to respond” to three statutory notices demanding information throughout 2016.
The appeal will continue throughout the week.
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