No Surprise There - Goldman Sachs Legal Criminals
Goldman boss refuses to face MPs over BHS
MPs summoned Michael Sherwood to explain the role of the Wall Street bank in advising Sir Philip Green on his sale of the collapsed retailer for £1 to the thrice bankrupt Dominic Chappell.
However, Mr Sherwood, joint boss of Goldman’s international business and one of the bank’s highest paid executives, has turned down the request from the business and work and pensions select committees, saying that he would provide written evidence to their inquiry instead.
Michael Sherwood, right, with Sir Philip Green and Tania Bryer in New York in 2014, has been called to appear before a parliamentary inquiry into the collapse of BHS
Mr Sherwood is one of three Goldman bankers to be called before the parliamentary investigation to explain the firm’s role. MPs want to hear again from Anthony Gutman, co-head of European investment banking, and from Michael Casey, another senior Goldman banker. They have also offered to provide written evidence to the investigation but are resisting attempts to face MPs in public.
Mr Gutman appeared before the joint-committee at a hearing last month when he revealed that the bank had worked for Sir Philip free of charge in relation to the BHS sale.
He told the committee that Goldman Sachs had never had a formal role in the disposal of BHS and had offered only “informal observations” to Sir Philip.
However, Mr Gutman admitted that he had warned the billionaire retailer about Mr Chappell, telling him that the businessman “had a history of bankruptcy”.
Records supplied to the investigation by Goldman Sachs show that Mr Sherwood was the first banker at the firm to be contacted by Sir Philip in the early stages of the BHS sale.
Mr Sherwood and Sir Philip have worked together for more than a decade and it was Goldman Sachs that backed his failed bid in 2004 for Marks & Spencer.
Sir Philip is expected to appear before the investigation on Wednesday, despite his calls last Friday for the resignation of Frank Field, the chairman of the work and pensions committee, who he said was biased against him.
Richard Fuller, a Tory member of the business committee, dismissed Sir Philip’s attack saying that “he may call the shots at British Home Stores, but no matter how big you are you don’t call the shots at parliament”.
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