Former CEO of Battersea Power Station launches whistleblowing case against firm

Don O’Sullivan, the former chief executive officer of Battersea Power Station Development Company (BPSDC), has filed an unfair dismissal and whistleblowing claim against the London-based real estate firm and four of its senior Malaysian executives.

O’Sullivan, who is being represented by John Hayes of Constantine Law and Stefan Brochwicz-Lewinski of Nine Chambers, is addressing whistleblowing concerns in regards to allegations of financial misreporting raised in November 2024 with the Employment Tribunal.

The issues were allegedly discussed during a board meeting between BPSDC and its parent company BPS Holding on December 16, 2024, and were said to have been acknowledged by the holding company. O’Sullivan then claims that he was excluded from the business the next day by two of the executives who were at the centre of his disclosures. He was suspended on December 24, and later dismissed in May 2025.

In his claim, O’Sullivan has said he “was dismissed on trumped-up charges of gross misconduct after raising concerns of serious financial misreporting”, which he alleged was made to “flatter the balance sheet of BPS Holdings”. An external forensic accounting report by Moore Kingston Smith has verified these claims, lawyers said.

Since his suspension, it has been suggested that a number of employees associated with O’Sullivan’s tenure have also lost their jobs or been suspended. O’Sullivan had initially taken up the helm of the company in June 2024.

BPSDC denys 'unfounded allegations'

In a statement to FashionUnited, a spokesperson by BPSDC said the company firmly denied the "unfounded allegations" made by O'Sullivan in the Employment Tribunal.

The statement continued: "There are no claims made by Mr O’Sullivan relating to BPSDC accounts. BPSDC manages the Battersea Power Station estate ultimately on behalf of Battersea Project Holding Company, the holding company of the 42-acre regeneration project.

"Battersea Project Holding Company appointed highly regarded forensic accountants to independently investigate historic claims. Whilst the two forensic accountants reports deal with confidential matters, the conclusion reached was that Mr O’Sullivan’s concerns were not borne out, no further investigation was warranted and accounting practices employed by Battersea Project Holding Company Limited adhere to international accounting standards. Its accounts have always been audited and signed off by PwC, one of the big four accounting firms.

"With the recent appointment of a master planner to shape the remaining 16 acres of the regeneration project, and with construction of two new Gehry-designed buildings set to commence in the coming months, Battersea Power Station is entering its next chapter and looking at how it can evolve the already thriving neighbourhood for the future needs of London and beyond.

"Adhering to the confidential nature of Employment Tribunal procedures, we cannot comment on this matter further at this time.”

BPSDC is a wholly owned subsidiary of BPS Holding, a company jointly owned by Sime Darby, SP Setia Berhad and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) of Malaysia. The consortium of investors took over the site in 2012 and enacted a nine billion pound transformation project which led to its reopening as a multi-use retail and leisure centre in 2022.

Since October 2025, rumours have been circulating about whether EPF was considering a sale of its stake in the business. Reports had suggested that the firm was exploring proposals from interested buyers, though no immediate exit was on the table.