Johnson puts Arcadia directors under scrutiny
Boris Johnson has called for regulators to examine the actions of directors of Philip Green's collapsed Arcadia fashion empire.
“The secretary of state for business, enterprise and skills has written to the Insolvency Service to look at the conduct of the Arcadia directors,” Johnson told MPs.
Arcadia, which owns Topshop and Miss Selfridge, imploded into administration on Monday threatening 13,000 jobs and leaving creditors including the government out of pocket. In 2005 Green and his wife took a £1.2bn dividend from the company, which had a £350m pension deficit when it failed.
Business Secretary Alok Sharma said he had asked the Insolvency Service to review a report from Arcadia's administrators Deloitte urgently when it arrives.
“If you decide that there are grounds for an investigation, I would ask that it looks not only at the conduct of directors immediately prior to and at insolvency, but also at whether any action by directors caused detriment to creditors or to the pension schemes,” Sharma said in his letter to the Insolvency Service's chief executive Dean Beale.