BBC chairman Richard Sharp quits over 'helping' Boris Johnson secure loan
New Delhi, April 28
BBC chairman Richard Sharp resigned on Friday after a report found he failed to disclose the role he played in helping former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson secure an 8,00,000-pound loan. The 67-year-old former Goldman Sachs banker has claimed the breach was inadvertent but a probe found that he had facilitated the loan for Johnson just before he was appointed BBC chief in 2021.
Ruling party’s Donor
- Probe found BBC chairman Richard Sharp failed to disclose his role in helping ex-PM Boris Johnson secure 8,00,000-pound loan.
- Sharp, also a donor to ruling Conservative Party, says breach inadvertent, but probe states he facilitated loan before his appointment.
It was under his watch that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) here registered a case earlier this month under the Foreign Exchange Management Act against BBC India for foreign exchange violations. Two months earlier, the I-T department had surveyed its office premises in Delhi and Mumbai. In London, the independent review led by Barrister Adam Heppinstall found that Sharp had set up a meeting between UK Cabinet Secretary Simon Case and businessman Sam Blyth who offered Johnson financial help. This meeting took place just before the scrutiny process for appointing him as the chief of BBC.
The BBC chairman’s post is filled on the recommendation of the government. Sharp is also a donor to the ruling Conservative Party. The BBC is run on a UK taxpayer-funded licence fee, but claims that it is independent.
Sharp said he would remain in post until the end of his term in June, but confirmed that he had sent in his resignation to the Secretary of State and to the BBC Board. British PM Rishi Sunak, who has worked under Sharp in the private sector, said he had “nothing to do with the appointment”.
