Rover bosses 'took more than £40m in pay and pensions'
A long-awaited report into the collapse of car giant MG Rover is expected to reveal that four bosses took more than £40m (€45.7m) in pay and pensions from the troubled firm.
The four businessmen bought MG Rover for a nominal £10 (€11.43) from owner BMW.
The men, known as the Phoenix Four - former MG Rover chairman John Towers, vice-chairman Peter Beale, Nick Stephenson and John Edwards - have been given copies of the 850-page report to study before its official publication.
The report comes more than four years after the motor firm went out of business with the loss of thousands of jobs.
The independent inquiry into the crisis has cost the UK taxpayer more than £16m (€18.3m) and will detail the British government's efforts to save the firm, including a £100m (€114.4m) bridging loan, as well as the involvement of the 'Phoenix Four'.
Rover's collapse led to the closure of the once-mighty factory at Longbridge in Birmingham, which has since re-opened under Chinese ownership building MG sports cars with a workforce of a few hundred.
Publication of the report follows a decision by the Serious Fraud Office not to pursue a fraud investigation into the demise of the company. It has been suggested that the report will make "uncomfortable" reading for the British government, especially over the bridging loan.
Workers hope the report will speed up efforts to agree payouts to ex-employees from a trust fund set up after MG Rover went out of business.
Labour MP Richard Burden, whose Birmingham Northfield constituency includes Longbridge, said workers had been waiting eagerly for the report. "Like most other people, I have found it frustrating that the inquiry has taken so long and astonishing that it has cost around £16m (€18.3m). Lessons should be learnt from this about the conduct of future Companies Act investigations.
"I just hope, having taken so long and cost that much, this inquiry provides some answers about the events that led up to the collapse of MG Rover back in 2005. It is important for public accountability that this happens and it is important to allow former MG Rover workers, and the people of south west Birmingham, to draw a line under all of this and move on."
