PwC, Wilko's administrator, is set to question the retailer's majority shareholder, Lisa Wilkinson, regarding the £77 million in dividends distributed to investors over the decade before the company's collapse.
Pressure has been mounting for the government to question the Wilkinson family, which owned the discount retailer since its inception in 1930, to address a £56 million shortfall in workers' pension funds.
Conducting a review of the dividends paid to the Wilkinson family and the retailer's directors as part of a broader investigation into company transactions leading up to the administration, PwC’s investigation comes after MPs demanded an inquiry into these dividends, the Times reported.
Wilko's pension fund has now been transferred to the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) following the company’s collapse and it could potentially mean significant cuts to retirees' payments and the loss of inflation protection they were previously entitled to.
Sir Mike Amesbury, Labour MP for Weaver Vale, claimed the situation “highlights the very worst case in the retail sector of capitalism with bells on. If that cash hadn’t been taken out, Wilko may well have rode through the storm. And if you look at the deficit of the pension fund there is a clear correlation over that period of time of similar levels of the dividends.”
Administrators have begun gathering information from directors, including Wilkinson, and will subsequently conduct interviews and scrutinize bank statements to understand the insolvency's causes and whether any claims should be filed against them.
Wilkinson previously defended these pay-outs during the loss-making period, highlighting the company's £100 million in assets and a healthy bank balance of £58 million at the time.