Business Secretary taking court action against former BHS owner

Business Secretary Greg Clark is taking High Court action which could lead to former BHS owner Dominic Chappell being banned from serving as a company director.

A specialist judge on Tuesday oversaw a preliminary hearing at the Director Disqualification Court, which is part of the High Court, in London.

Judge Sebastian Prentis analysed a number of pre-trial issues and listed a further hearing for November 20.

No date has yet been fixed for a trial.

He said Mr Clark had taken action under the terms of legislation governing the disqualification of company directors.

The judge said the case centred on BHS and other related companies.

He heard submissions on preliminary issues from barrister Tiran Nersessian, who represented Mr Clark.

Mr Chappell was not at the hearing.

He is listed alongside two other defendants, his father Joseph Chappell and Lennart Henningson, in case paperwork.

Neither of the other two defendants were at the hearing.

In March, bosses at the Insolvency Service, which comes under Mr Clark’s umbrella, said they had written to Mr Chappell and three other former BHS directors saying they intended to bring proceedings following an investigation into the collapse of department store chain.

Businessman Sir Philip Green had sold BHS to Mr Chappell for £1 in 2015. BHS went into administration in 2016 with the loss of 11,000 jobs.

Its demise sparked a parliamentary investigation which branded Sir Philip “the unacceptable face of capitalism”.