Dominic Chappell Used £1.5m BHS Loan to Pay Off Family Mortgage

The family home of Dominic Chappell, the former owner of BHS, was on the brink of being repossessed before cash from the department store chain was used to pay off the mortgage. The Guardian has learned that financial company Amicus initiated legal proceedings against the Chappell family to repossess the property unless their debts were repaid. The debt was settled when the parent company of BHS paid out £1.5m. The money came from BHS and was paid out as an interest-free loan. It has not been repaid. The saga raises further questions about Chappell’s management of BHS and highlights the chaos behind the scenes as the chain headed for collapse. MPs described the corporate governance of Retail Acquisitions, the company that owned BHS, as a “joke” after Chappell admitted to the parliamentary committee investigating the demise of BHS that a £1.5m loan had been paid out. One of the directors of Retail Acquisitions, Eddie Parladorio, voted against the loan, with the only two votes in favour cast by Chappell and his friend Lennart Henningson.