Evidence given by the former BHS owner Dominic Chappell at an enquiry into the collapse of the chain has been branded “not correct” by Goldman Sachs, days after former bosses at the firm slammed Chappell as a “Premier League liar”.
Chappell, a former racing driver who admitted at the hearing that he had “no retail experience”, bought BHS from Sir Philip Green for £1 in March 2015.
Anthony Gutman, a Goldman Sachs banker, advised Sir Philip on the deal.
In his account to MPs, Chappell said he had met with Gutman two or three times. This was denied by the firm, who said that Gutman had only attended a meeting with Chappell once.
The firm also denied that Farallon, a hedge fund, was “very committed” to providing financing to Chappell’s company to allow him to buy BHS, saying that such interest was subject to due diligence.
The letter, dated June 10, says that Goldman does not believe it should have to appear at the committee hearing because it has co-operated so far and does not have any more information to give.
The revelations cast further doubt over the testimony of Dominic Chappell, who was branded a “Premier League Liar” with his “fingers in the till” by a former financial adviser to BHS at an MP hearing.
Michael Hitchcock, a former financial adviser to BHS, said Mr Chappell was “a Sunday pub league retailer, at best.”
“So many people believed him, but he was a liar,” Mr Hitchcock said. Mr Hitchcock was hired by Mr Topp to look into finances at the firm after he grew suspicious about Mr Chappell’s handling of the company’s affairs.
Asked why he thought Mr Chappell was a liar, Mr Hitchcock said he didn’t put in the money he had promised to when he bought BHS from Sir Philip.
Mr Hitchcock said Retail Acquisitions Limited, the company Mr Chappell used for the BHS takeover, put £10m into the business and took £17m out of it.
Sir Philip Green will face questions over why he sold BHS to Dominic Chappell when he meets with MPs on Wednesday.
Chappell was in charge of BHS for less than a year, during which time the retailer was driving into administration.
The British high street stalwart went bust in April with a £571 million pension deficit, putting 11,000 jobs at risk.
