The government will ban the four executives who oversaw the collapse of MG Rover from ever running a company again.
An 850-page report released today says the executives, known as the Phoenix Four, took £42 million out of the company in pay and in pensions. They bought the company for just £10 from BMW in 2000, but it collapsed five years later.
Business secretary Lord Mandelson is believed to have taken legal advice about the four and will seek to have them banned from being directors of a private or public company for a fixed number of years.
John Towers, the former MG Rover chairman, Nick Stephenson, ex vice-chairman, Peter Beale and John Edwards received about £9 million. Their chief executive, Kevin Howe, is said to have taken £5.7m.
It collapsed with the loss of 6000 jobs, and amid claims that the car manufacturer was nursing a £400m black hole in its accounts and recriminations that the four businessmen had squandered a £100m sum left to them when BMW sold the company.
The men described the report as a "witchhunt" and a "whitewash for the government".
"Our remuneration was not the reason for the collapse,” they said in a statement. “The real reason is the government bungled the last chance to save MG Rover.”
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Re: Action against MG Rover execs
Discrimination no, hipocracy yes! That's Lord(?) Mandleson for you.
Re: Action against MG Rover execs
I can think of quite a few MP's who should be banned from holding public office for life for digging their snouts in the trough, stinks of discrimination here :(
Re: Action against MG Rover execs
The people to blame here are not just the Pheonix 4 it is also the Labour Government, they were in power in 2000 when BMW wanted rid of the loss making Rover. If BMW could not make a profit out of it in the six years of ownership they had and with the millions they poured into Rover then what makes the British Labour government and Mr Brown who at the time was incharge of the tresuary (the money man) think that 4 men with £10.00 could make a going concern of the company with out 2 of its profit making bits at the time (Mini kept by BMW and Landrover sold to Ford ) and with the same comitment of sales and jobs.
Others that we intrested in the company knew that Rover had to be made a smaller company but Blair and Brown did not want mass job cuts so they backed the Pheonix 4 who said they could make a profit in 2 years, up sales and keep jobs.
It has to be said that there are many factors into the down fall of Rover and many go back to the days before British aerospace sold it to BMW , but Mr Mandleson and the Pheonix 4 and BMW all have a stake in the last few years of the death of Rover.
Maybe the fault lies with British Aerospace, they should have sold on to Honda instead of BMW then we may still have a MG ROVER to talk about.
After £16 million of tax payers monery lets hope that we can finally let MG ROVER GROUP RIP.