BHS debacle shows the true costs of corporate greed | Letters

Prem Sikka (Opinion, 26 April) is right that BHS is a victim, but not of shareholder greed - rather director greed and flawed legislation. In the early 1980s most corporate pension funds had sizeable surpluses. As an accountant at the time, I argued that pension funds should be ringfenced, but I lost the argument on the grounds that companies had a liability to pay their defined pensions. So companies took "holidays" and in some cases raided the pension pot, and we all know what happened.

But it is getting worse; corporate greed is becoming out of control. For example, BP has awarded its CEO a huge amount despite incurring huge losses. Then to get shareholders off the scent it maintained the dividend (this strategy didn't work), but had to borrow more money to pay it.