BBC chairman Richard Sharp made errors of judgment in Boris Johnson £800,000 loan

A Parliament committee has said that Richard Sharp, the chairman of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), made significant errors of judgment in failing to disclose his role in a loan to former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, risking public trust in the news network. This month, Sharp was questioned by the Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) committee in helping arrange $964,960 (£800,000) for Johnson,who was serving as the PM when Sharp applied for his position to lead the BBC, a report by news agency Bloomberg on Sunday (February 12) said.

According to a separate report, the committee called on Sharp to consider the impact his actions would have on the trust in him, the BBC, and the public appointment process. Sharp was also questioned by the committee two years back about whether he should get the top position on the BBC.

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Damian Green, the acting chair of the DCMS committee, said, "Such a significant error of judgment meant we were not in the full possession of the facts when we were required to rule on his suitability for the role of BBC Chair.”

Sharp is a Conservative Party donor and has given over $482,500 (around £400,000) to Tories. He also has ties with current British PM Rishi Sunak as they both worked at Goldman Sachs at the same time, Bloomberg reported on Sunday.

On Tuesday (February 7), the BBC chairman told the DCMS committee that he acted “in good faith” and was just the “go-between for the loan.” Sharp added that he did not offer financial advice to Boris Johnson but regretted the distraction caused by the matter to the BBC. By not recusing himself from involvement in the loan or disclosing it to officials, the committee was left without full facts needed to fully scrutinize Sharp's appropriateness as a candidate.

Recently, Richard Sharp was in news for declaring that he owned British property through offshore jurisdictions. According to a report by the Guardian last month, Sharp is the beneficial owner of a £4 million flat in London held through a Jersey-based trust. But a spokesperson said aid that the flat in question was his elderly mother's home.

“Mr Sharp is a UK citizen, UK domiciled and has always been meticulous about always paying the full amount of tax here," the spokesperson said. "Like many parents, he has been thinking about how to provide for his children on his death. This arrangement isn’t about a personal tax benefit to him as he pays more UK tax under this arrangement, but about him planning for provision for his children," the spokesperson added.

(With inputs from agencies)

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