Call for Phoenix Four to apologise
The Government was today embroiled in a bitter struggle with the businessmen who banked millions as West Midland car giant MG Rover went bust.
The Government was today embroiled in a bitter struggle with the businessmen who banked millions as West Midland car giant MG Rover went bust.
The so-called Phoenix Four could be banned from holding office again after a damning indictment by the official investigation which listed a catalogue of serious accusations, including that they gave misleading information to MPs.
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson revealed that work had started to begin proceedings against John Towers, Peter Bealem John Edwards and Nick Stephenson - and said they should apologise to the 6,300 former Rover workers who were thrown out of work, as well as creditors who had lost money.
The Phoenix Four bought the Longbridge-based group from German car-maker BMW for £10 in 2000, and then went on to pay themselves £9million each between then and April 2005 when the firm collapsed.
Dividends
They also stand to make a further £3.2m each from share schemes and dividends.
Lord Mandelson said the four men should now "do the decent thing" and formally disqualify themselves from holding any future directorships.
"I think the directors are showing brass neck nerve in the light of these findings of a very thorough and painstaking report to suggest that it is a whitewash or a witch-hunt when the finger of blame and responsibility points so clearly at them," said the Business Secretary.
"I think, in the circumstances, they would be better off offering some humility and even an apology to those who lost their jobs and the creditors who lost their money as a result of this company's collapse."
Lord Mandelson rejected the former Rover directors' claims that the Government "bungled" the last chance to save the company, and that Gordon Brown had questions to answer about his role as chancellor in the decision not to provide a bridging loan.
"I think what is clear from the way in which these directors have spoken today is that they would say anything and do anything to cover up their own mistakes," he said.
Plague
Former MG Rover workers slammed the report as a waste of money, one telling both the Phoenix Four and the Government: "A plague on both your houses."
Deloitte, the auditor and tax adviser to MG Rover,has been given a largely clean bill of health from the independent report on the collapse of the car maker.
