BILLIONAIRE businessman Sir Philip Green has said he "categorically and wholly denies" allegations of "unlawful sexual or racist behaviour"
His statement came after he was named in Parliament as the businessman accused of sexual harassment in Britain's #MeToo scandal.
Ex-cabinet minister Lord Peter Hain, used parliamentary privilege to name the businessman who obtained a privacy injunction over the bullying and sexual harassment allegations.
Parliamentary privilege enables politicians to speak freely in the houses of parliament without fear of being sued for defamation.
The Labour peer requested to make the 'personal statement' saying it was his "duty" to out Mr Green, chairman of the Arcadia retail empire that includes Topshop, as the mystery figure who tried to gag the media over reporting of accusations from former employees.
Lord Peter Hain made the statement at a hushed House of Lords at 2.43pm on Thursday at the end of a debate over calls for a People's Vote over the outcome of the Brexit negotiations between the UK government and the European Union.
Lord Hain named the retail tycoon in parliament
He said: “My Lords, having been contacted by someone intimately involved in the case of a powerful businessman using non-disclosure agreements and substantial payments to conceal the truth about serious and repeated sexual harassment, racist abuse and bullying, which is compulsively continuing, I feel it’s my duty under parliamentary privilege to name Philip Green as the individual in question given that the media have been subject to an injunction preventing publication of the full details of a story which is clearly in the public interest.”
Following the statement some MPs called for the Topshop boss Sir Philip to be stripped of the knighthood he was given in 2006.
Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable said that if the allegations are correct he "should certainly be stripped of his knighthood".
Sir Philip, who denies the allegations, said: "I am not commenting on anything that has happened in court or was said in Parliament today.
"To the extent that it is suggested that I have been guilty of unlawful sexual or racist behaviour, I categorically and wholly deny these allegations.
"Arcadia and I take accusations and grievances from employees very seriously and in the event that one is raised, it is thoroughly investigated.
"Arcadia employs more than 20,000 people and in common with many large businesses sometimes receives formal complaints from employees.
"In some cases these are settled with the agreement of all parties and their legal advisers.
"These settlements are confidential so I cannot comment further on them."
On Tuesday the Telegraph ran an article accusing an unnamed businessman of racial and sexual abuse of staff. The Herald has not been able to verify the allegations contained in the Telegraph's report.
A legal injunction prevented the Telegraph from publishing his identity.
The Daily Telegraph said it spent eight months investigating allegations made against the businessman and was prevented from revealing details of the non-disclosure deals through a ruling by Sir Terence Etherton, the Master of the Rolls, the second most senior judge in England and Wales and Lord Justice Henderson
The intervention makes it illegal to reveal the businessman’s identity or to identify the companies, as well as what he is accused of doing or how much he paid his alleged victim, pending a full trial.
In a ruling published on Tuesday, the Court of Appeal referred to the businessman as “ABC” and described the allegations made by five employees of "group companies" as amounting to “discreditable conduct”. Papers show the case was launched by "ABC and others".
Three of them employees did so through the companies' confidential internal grievance procedures. Two of those employees, when their grievance was not upheld, brought separate proceedings in the Employment Tribunal, the ruling stated.
All five cases were "compromised" by settlements with non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) under which substantial payments were made, the judgment said.
The court said: "The importance of the role of the media is not in issue or in doubt. It is, however, only one side of the scales in determining where the balance of the public interest lies on the particular facts of the present case."
The temporary injunction was agreed with the public interest issue to be decided at trial.
Labour MP Jess Phillips asked Prime Minister Theresa May about the use of NDAs during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, without naming Mr Green.
May responded that while she could not comment on the specific case, she did note that "sexual harassment in the work place is against the law, such abhorrent behaviour should not be tolerated and an employer that allows that harassment of women to go undealt with is sending a message about how welcome they are and about their value in the work place."
Mr Green is known as the king of retail whose reputation was left in tatters over his role in the demise of BHS. The collapse of the retailer in April 2016 left 11,000 people out of work and a £571m black hole in its pensions fund.
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