The head of the Institute of Directors (IoD), Simon Walker, has criticised the former owners of BHS after a series of “lamentable failures” led to the retailer’s collapse. Mr Walker told Radio 4’s Today programme that Sir Philip Green has a moral responsibility to the retailer's staff and that there were still many unanswered questions.
The company was put into liquidation yesterday, putting 11,000 jobs at risk after attempts to rescue it failed.
Mr Walker told the BBC that the collapse of BHS "has the potential to be deeply damaging to the reputation of British business".
He said: "We spend a lot of time agonising about the loss of trust in the business community, and I think we can see why this is. I think there is a lamentable failure of behaviour and there are a lot of questions that need to be asked."
He added that Sir Philip has "moral responsibilities" over the collapse, especially with regards to the plight of the pension scheme. Sir Philip has been accused of taking money out of the company whilst the pension fund was sinking into deficit.
Mr Walker said: "You can't just get yourself off the hook by selling a business to someone who's been bankrupt three times and is a former racing driver with no retail experience."
He acknowledged that "BHS was probably going to fail anyway", but added: "It's the manner of its failure and the fact that it ends up dumping huge liabilities on to the taxpayer that is a problem, and it is the lack of due diligence in selling it…something's wrong".
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