Now it’s the advisers’ turn to be grilled by MPs over BHS collapse
The topic of the BHS collapse will be heading back into parliament tomorrow, with a string of advisers from top law and accountancy firms due to be grilled by MPs.
Ian Greenstreet, partner at Nabarro, Tony Clare, partner at Deloitte, David Clarke, partner at KPMG, Richard Cousins and Steve Denison, both partners at PwC, Emma King, partner at Eversheds and Owen Clay, partner at Linklaters along with Anthony Gutman, co-head of EMEA Investement Banking Services at Goldman Sachs have all been called to give evidence at a joint hearing in front of the Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) committee and the Work and Pensions committee tomorrow afternoon.
The advisers will likely be asked about what role they played in the sale of BHS to Retail Acquisitions in 2015.
A Deloitte spokesperson said ahead of the hearing: “We confirm we have been invited to appear before the BIS select committee. We look forward to helping the committee in all of their considerations in respect of this matter."
Read more: BHS liquidation rumours dismissed: Sale expected "early next week
A spokesperson for Goldman Sachs declined to comment further on the inquiry but pointed out that the bank had previous said that it "had no formal role on the sale of BHS to Retail Acquisitions and was not engaged or remunerated in relation to it".
Various representatives from Arcadia and Taveta Investments – the company owned by Sir Philip Green's wife Tina – have also been called to give evidence.
BHS was put into administration last month, placing over 10,000 jobs on the line and raising serious questions over the company's £571m pension scheme deficit. Green sold BHS to Retail Acquisitions for £1.
Read more: Sir Philip Green hits back over pensions watchdogs' evidence to MPs
Green himself is due to provide evidence to MPs on 15 June, while Dominic Chappell, Retail Acquisitions' largest shareholder, is due to appear on 8 June.
Although the BIS and the Work and Pensions committees are running two separate inquires into the collapse of BHS, the amount of crossover between the former's questions on the sale and acquisition of the high street retailer and the latter's questions on what impact the collapse has on the UK's pensions regulations means that a number of the hearings will be heard jointly by both.