TPR orders director to pay £124,000 over BHS pensions debacle

Dominic Chappell, the director and majority shareholder of the company that bought BHS for £1, has been ordered to pay more than £124,000 for failing to hand over information to The Pensions Regulator (TPR). Mr Chappell failed to provide information that TPR had required him to supply as part of its investigation into the sale and then collapse of the former high street giant, using powers under section 72 of the Pensions Act 2004. He also failed to provide TPR with information about a possible unauthorised disclosure of restricted material.Mr Chappell was first convicted of the offences in January. He appealed against both the conviction and sentence but after losing his appeal at Hove Crown Court he was ordered to appear in court again last week to be sentenced for the second time. Ordering Mr Chappell to pay a £50,000 fine, £73,900 costs and a £170 victim surcharge, Judge Christine Henson QC said that his appeal was “completely without merit” and that he had shown a “complete lack of remorse” for his behaviour. She said: “It was persistent. It was deliberate. It was a blatant refusal to comply with the requests. “His refusal to comply with the Section 72 requests caused significant delay to TPR’s task. “It made their work significantly more difficult.” Nicola Parish, TPR’s executive director of frontline regulation, said: “Dominic Chappell has consistently refused to provide the information about the sale of BHS that we demanded, despite the courts being clear that he should provide it. “His repeated claims that he does not have to give us what we have been seeking have now been rejected by two different courts. “Information notices are a vital investigative tool for us. “As this case shows, if you ignore them you are committing a crime and should expect to be prosecuted.” TPR’s separate anti-avoidance action against Mr Chappell in respect of the BHS pension schemes is continuing.

TPR orders director to pay £124,000 over BHS pensions debacle

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