DTI probe into Rover collapse

THE Department of Trade and Industry is this week expected to launch its own inquiry into the collapse of MG Rover.

Trade Secretary Alan Johnson will act after he received a report on the car maker from City watchdog the Financial Reporting Council.

Reports say that the initial probe into Rover's alleged £427m black hole has uncovered possible evidence of wrongdoing that requires some further investigation.

Johnson's final decision is likely to be based on conduct reports from MG Rover's administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers on the behaviour of the so-called Phoenix Four. The quartet of Midlands businessmen have already been accused of taking £40m in salaries and pension payments from the company during the five years they ran it.

The FRC has a limited remit. It has only been able to examine the accounts of Rover and its subsidiaries in coming to its conclusions.

A DTI spokesman said it could not determine what further action it may take until it had received and digested a copy of the report. Some 5,000 jobs were lost at Rover's Longbridge plant when the firm collapsed last month.