Former BHS owner Philip Green has instructed Schillings to demand an “immediate apology” from one of the MPs who led the inquiry into the retailer’s collapse.
Schillings wrote a letter to Frank Field MP stating he made “highly defamatory and completely false” statements about Green on Radio 4’s Today programme.
“Our client requires an immediate and fulsome apology in relation to the allegation,” the letter read. “We look forward to hearing from you on this point within 24 hours.”
It added: “The other remedies to which our client is clearly entitled will very much depend on form and manner of your response.”
Field allegedly told Radio 4 listeners Green “had stolen money” from the BHS and Arcadia pension funds – a claim that Schillings said is “likely to cause him serious harm”.
The firm claimed former BHS owner Green had never stolen money from the retailer or the pension funds, adding: “and you know that” in its letter.
Field co-led the inquiry into the failure of BHS and made numerous TV and radio appearances on Monday (25 July) as MPs released their report.
Speaking to journalists on Monday, Field confirmed he had received a letter from Schillings “threatening to sue me for what I’ve actually been saying”.
“I would have thought his job is actually now to make good the pensions deficit and not chase me around the studios,” he said. “Slightly disappointing, but I don’t know what we need to do now to actually get him to concentrate on what he needs to do.”
Monday’s report into the collapse of BHS said all advisers and directors were “culpable” but added that Retail Acquisitions’ lawyers Olswang could not be blamed for the resulting purchase.
However the report added the advisers “were nonetheless content to take generous fees and lend both their names and their reputations to the deal.”
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