BILLIONAIRE retail magnate Philip Green could be grilled by police if criminal wrongdoing comes to light during investigations into the sale of BHS, which led to thousands of job losses.

Mr Green could be shopped to the authorities if government-led probes into the demise of the high-street chain find evidence of misconduct, Tory Business Minister Anna Soubry told the Commons yesterday.

Even though Ms Soubry refused to name specific individuals who could come under scrutiny, she warned: “Any wrongdoing will be taken very seriously.”

Her Labour shadow Bill Esterston responded by calling for Mr Green to be referred to the police for “his actions while he owned BHS.

”This is because the BHS pension fund has a £571 million deficit but was in surplus before Mr Green sold the high street chain to now bankrupt Dominic Chappell’s Retail Acquisitions for £1 last year.

His family had also taken “hundreds of millions of pounds in dividends” before selling BHS, Mr Esterston said, adding that “obscene profiteering” should be illegal.

He continued: “BHS is an example of wealth extraction, not creation, and a system that favours the very small number of people rather than the wider economy.

“The minister and her colleagues need to intervene and investigate in full what happened in BHS and take action against the likes of Philip Green.

“Otherwise they would be complicit in allowing a system of exploitation by a few owners at the expense of the many staff and pensioners.”

Administrator Duff & Phelps announced last week that all 163 BHS shops will close and be sold to other retailers after attempts to find a buyer for the company failed.

Around 8,000 jobs are at risk, as well as those of another 3,000 workers not directly employed by BHS.