“Our informal work should not have been relied upon in any decision to proceed with the transaction”, the bank said in a statement emailed to CNNMoney.
Advertisement
Inquiry co-chair MP Frank Field said Green should make out a cheque for “at least” £571m, after the report cited Green’s failure to sort out a £571m pensions deficit as a primary catalyst for the chain’s collapse.
In particular, the company’s former owner, Sir Philip Green, has come in for particular criticism from the MPs, with the cross-party group of politicians now believed to be looking into strengthening corporate regulations to prevent such mis-management from happening again.
“I would have thought his job is actually now to make good the pensions deficit and not chase me around the studios because we are trying to speak to the report which parliament has approved”, he said.
The permatanned king of retail has seen his reputation – and potentially his knighthood – left in tatters by the collapse of BHS.
Hundreds of Scottish-based BHS staff are to be told they face redundancy as administrators move to close all remaining stores in the coming weeks.
Kourtney and Kim Kardashian with Philip Green before the launch of their clothing line Kardashian Kollection at the British high street retail chain Dorothy Perkins.
The committees said Green had a “moral duty” to find a resolution for BHS pensioners and that the demise of BHS begs much wider questions about gaps in company law and pension regulation.
While the committees were damning about Mr Chappell, who bought BHS for £1, and the “directors, advisers and hangers-on” associated with the deal, they said ultimate responsibility lay with Sir Philip.
McDonnell said: “If Philip Green won’t do the right thing by the members of the BHS pension fund then he should have his knighthood removed”.
After the news was announced, government business minister Anna Soubry urged major retailers to help in their efforts to find new jobs for the thousands of BHS staff set to be out of work.
Field told the BBC he would not apologise.
“With the benefit of hindsight, clearly Retail Acquisitions and Mr Chappell were a very bad choice as purchaser on many fronts and I feel badly let down”.
Lord Kerslake, who was chairman of the committee when it stripped former RBS chief executive Fred Goodwin of his knighthood, suggested that it may choose to do the same with Sir Philip.
“One person, and one person alone, is ultimately responsible for the collapse of BHS”, said Field in the statement.
Advertisement
“The sale of BHS did not have to proceed as it did”, concludes article 169 of the report, which follows months of evidence gathering by the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee and Work and Pensions Committee. “It is for them to look at it”, she added.
