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Sir Philip Green failed in his attempt to challenge the use of the British parliamentary privilege in the Chamber of Lords to link the former topshop owner to allegations of sexual misconduct in 2018.
Green, who lives in Monaco, had filed a complaint in privacy with the European Court of Human Rights who could have undermined the capacity of British deputies and peers to use their parliamentary privilege to reveal confidential details subject to an injunction.
In 2018, the Chamber of Lords Peer Lord Peter Hain had used the parliamentary privilege to name Green As the businessman accused of having tried to use non-disclosure agreements to silence the staff who had accused him of sexual harassment and intimidation. Green denied allegations.
Tuesday morning, in a decision, the European Court unanimously noted that the United Kingdom had not violated the European Convention on Human Rights, avoiding controversial intervention on the rights of the British Parliament by the judges of Strasbourg.
The court concluded that it should be left to individual states and to the British parliament in particular, to decide the necessary controls to prevent parliamentary members from revealing the information submitted to confidentiality injunctions.
He added that “finding the opposite would take place contrary to the principle of the autonomy of Parliament, which had already considered and rejected the need for additional controls”.
The parliamentary privilege grants deputies and peers of legal immunity on freedom of expression, as well as the capacity of the media to point out what they say without fear of being successfully pursued.
Green, Topshop and his parent company, Arcadia Group, had settled actual and potential employment procedures with former employees, according to court documents, all sides dealing with keeping information related to complaints and confidential regulations.
In July 2018, they asked for the high court for an injunction preventing the publication of their identity and the facts of allegations. But following the publication of history on an “eminent businessman” – without naming Green – Hain spoke to say that it was his “duty under the parliamentary privilege of named Philip Green as an individual in question”.
The disclosure sparked a series of complaints from other employees and general media coverage on the alleged activities of Green. The former retail magnate continued an expensive confidentiality claim against the Telegraph newspaper to drop it the previous week which was to be tried.
Green is one of the best known businessmen in Great Britain. He was often called “king of the main street”, rubbing his shoulders with the Kate Moss model at the height of the popularity of Topshop, and was then a knight.
As well ascadia, which owned Topshop and other intermediate fashion channels, including Burton and Dorothy Perkins, Green also owned the BHS department store. In 2005, Arcadia paid 1.2 billion pounds Sterling, a tax deductible dividend to the wife of Green, the registered owner of the company.
However, the fall of Green de Grace has been widely documented since he sold the BHS channel now disappeared in 2015 for £ 1 in Dominic Chappell, a bankrupt in series without retail experience.
His Arcadia Empire went bankrupt during the first days of the Pandemic COVID-19, having failed to adapt to the transition to online purchases, which makes it one of the most in recent years in recent years.
Green did not respond to a request for comments.
