Damning parliamentary inquiry brands Sir Philip Green 'unacceptable face of capitalism'
Former BHS boss Sir Philip Green has been branded the "unacceptable face of capitalism", as a parliamentary inquiry found he extracted huge sums from the collapsed store group while leaving its pension fund in deficit.
In a damning joint report, two Commons select committees accused the retail magnate of seeking to blame anyone but himself for the company's failure.
The Work and Pensions and Business, Innovation and Skills committees were also severely critical of Dominic Chappell, who bought BHS for £1, as well as the "directors, advisers and hangers-on" associated with the deal, but they ultimately lay responsibility with Sir Philip.
The report said the entrepreneur has a "moral duty" to make a "large financial contribution" to the 20,000 pensioners facing substantial cuts to their benefits.
Although his family had accrued "incredible wealth" from their early profitable years of owning BHS, while paying little in tax, Sir Philip had failed to invest in the company and refused to address the "substantial and unsustainable deficit" in the pension fund.
The committees said it was "inconceivable" Sir Philip had not realised Mr Chappell, a former bankrupt with no retail experience, was a "manifestly unsuitable" buyer, and that he had "acted to conceal the true state of the BHS pension problem" from him.
"Sir Philip gave insufficient priority to the BHS pension scheme over an extended period," the report said.
"His failure to resolve its problems by now has contributed substantially to the demise of BHS.
"Sir Philip owes it to the BHS pensioners to find a resolution urgently. This will undoubtedly require him to make a large financial contribution. He has a moral duty to act, a duty which he acknowledges."
When Sir Philip acquired BHS in 2000 for £200 million, the report said the company pension schemes were in surplus, but the high level of dividends paid out - more than double the after-tax profits of £208 million between 2002-04 - left it weakened.
Although he had been aware of the growing problem with the pension fund, Sir Philip had resisted calls to deal with it, primarily because he did not want to reveal details of his past business dealings to the Pensions Regulator.
Sir Philip struggled to find a buyer for the company, partly because of the hole in the pension fund.
The committees said the retail magnate settled on his junior business associate Mr Chappell, and pushed the deal through by circumventing regulatory concerns.
The deal was completed on March 11 2015, and 13 months later on April 26 2016, BHS went into administration leaving 11,000 employees facing an uncertain future.
The committees' report comes days after the Cabinet Office said it was reviewing Sir Philip's knighthood, amid intense calls for him to be stripped of the honour.