Dilip Kuner
THE disgraced former boss of doomed UK retailers BHS has been jailed for six years for tax evasion.
Dominic Chappell – who had several links to Spain including taking ownership of the Oasis Club in Marbella – was found guilty of evading tax on the £2.2million income he received after buying the chain for just £1 from billionaire Sir Philip Green in March 2015.
Chappell, 53, from Blandford Forum in Dorset (UK), evaded paying £500,000 in income tax, corporation tax and VAT between January 2014 and September 2016.
Serial bankrupt Chappell was convicted at a trial at London’s Southwark crown court.
The court heard that he spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on luxury items, including a yacht, a Bentley car and a Bahamas holiday.
A year after he took ownership, BHS collapsed under the weight of a £571 million pensions black hole. Some 11,000 jobs were lost.
In 2016 he made headlines when he allegedly evicted his brother from a villa at the Oasis Club that had belonged to his mother. He allegedly persuaded her to sign the property over to pay debts associated with the BHS deal.
His brother Damon had lived in the property with his wife and son for over a decade.
Chappell also faced allegations of misusing company funds from Cadiz-based Olivia Petroleum
Around €385,000 was allegedly siphoned from the company which he fronted without other shareholders’ approval.
The money was allegedly used to fund a lavish lifestyle and another business.
Just a year ago, Chappell was banned from holding company directorships in the UK for 10 years for ‘abusing his responsibilities’.
