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Summary
- Dominic Chappel, a British businessman and former racing driver has been convicted of defrauding the income tax authorities
- Mr Chappell has made as much as £2.2 million from the BHS deal
- Chappell has been convicted of swindling the Inland Revenue & Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
Dominic Chappel, the former boss of British Home Stores (BHS), has been sentenced to a jail term of six years for evading multiple taxes. Chappel, the 53-year-old British businessman and former racing driver, has been convicted of defrauding the income tax authorities to the tune of nearly £584,000. Earlier in 2015, Chappell controversially bought BHS, the now-defunct London-based retailer, from business mogul Sir Philip Green for a nominal price of £1.
Dominic Chappell apparently avoided paying applicable taxes on the sum he made out of the deal with BHS and preferred to spend it on his lavish lifestyle.
The fraud and lavish lifestyle
According to various media reports, Mr Chappell has made as much as £2.2 million from the BHS deal, and instead of servicing the tax obligations, he splurged the money on a yacht, a holiday in Bahamas, a luxury Bentley car, a new boat and Beretta guns. Chappell also spent a sum of £250,000 on insurance, amount equivalent to around £185,000, £86,000, and £327,000 was shelled out on a yacht, Bentley car and new boat, respectively.
At the time, when Chappell was utilising the money to fund the opulent lifestyle, BHS was struggling to stay afloat manage its day-to-day operations. Later in April 2016, the irregularly-handled BHS crumbled leaving a pension deficit of £571 million with job losses of nearly 11,000 persons in connection with BHS.
Found guilty
Chappell has been convicted of swindling the Inland Revenue & Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) evading the value-added tax (VAT), income tax and corporation tax following the trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court. Chappell had repeatedly argued and blamed Sir Philip Green, the previous owner of BHS, for the collapse of the retailer.
However, the lawyers representing Chappell in the court have claimed that their client got broke after the pension problem with BHS came across. Chappell has also claimed that Mr Green completed the BHS deal leaving a series of financial complications with the business. BHS went on to lose £1 million in a week in 2015, while the amount of more than £2 million that was received by Chappell has been directed via Swiss Rock Ltd, a finance firm under the control of Dominic that later got bankrupt.
The Judge, prosecutor & HMRC
The prosecutors, judge and the concerning authority of HMRC have duly criticised Chappell’s intention of not making an effort to save BHS and wasting huge amounts of cash for maintaining his luxury lifestyle.
Chappell has been engaged in a consistent course of misconduct to cheat the revenue departments, the judge read during the sentencing, adding, he’s not of “positive good character”. Whereas, HMRC has blamed Mr Chappell for deliberately cheating the citizens of the United Kingdom as he has failed to oblige various tax constraints knowing that the tax had to be paid.
According to Southwark Crown Court prosecutor Andrew Fox, Chappell has been paid thousands of pounds for his role at the BHS, but he unhesitantly splurged the money on sustaining his luxurious lifestyle requirements instead of safeguarding the interest of the enterprise. Dominic had been specifically appointed to upskill the functioning of the already-struggling retail chain, he added.
