The former owner of BHS has told a court he did not receive demands for information from the pensions watchdog as he was “offshore on a boat”.
Dominic Chappell, who headed Retail Acquisitions which bought BHS for £1 from Topshop entrepreneur Sir Philip Green about a year before the department store fell into administration, has been accused of failing to provide information to the pensions regulator.
The regulator is investigating the sale of the retailer, which had a pension deficit of as much as £571m when it collapsed last year.
In February, Green, a billionaire who owned BHS for 15 years before selling it to Chappell, agreed to hand over £363m to rescue the scheme in a deal with the regulator. It is attempting to get information from Chappell and is understood to be seeking as much as £17m from Chappell and Retail Acquisitions in relation to the scheme.
At Brighton magistrates court, Chappell pleaded not guilty to three charges of neglecting or refusing to provide information and documents without a reasonable excuse, contrary to the Pensions Act 2004.
The 50-year-old initially told the court he had not seen the summons from the pensions regulator or any of the formal documentation. When asked why by district judge William Ashworth, Chappell replied: “Because I was away, I did not have internet access when I was away. I was offshore, on a boat.”
While he didn’t give more details, a yacht owned by Chappell, Maverick 5, was entered in the Rolex Fastnet, the world’s largest offshore yacht race, which ran from Cowes to the Fastnet Rock near Ireland from 6 August finishing in Plymouth on 10 August.
Representing himself in court, Chappell said a copy of the summons had not arrived at his remote country home either.
He told the court he was set to meet his lawyer on Tuesday but his representative was now “out of the country dealing with family circumstances”.
Chappell asked for the hearing to be adjourned, but instead, the judge gave him some time to read the documents before entering his plea.
He was sent a formal warning notice by the regulator in November in which it made clear it would use its legal powers to seek funds towards supporting the BHS pension scheme.
He had six months to reply and set out his case after which a determinations panel, independent of the investigations team, should decide whether he had to make a contribution and how much it should be.
The case has now been adjourned until a four-day hearing starting on 8 January.
Pensions experts have warned that the legal battle could take years. Although the regulator can legally force Chappell to make a payment, he can take an appeal against such a decision to the supreme court.
