Workers' shock over fraud inquiry

By Peter Plisner
BBC Midlands transport correspondent

MG Rover collapsed in April 2005

Four years ago it was a busy car factory employing more than 1,000 people.

But since the collapse in 2005 Birmingham-based carmaker MG Rover has become a virtual wasteland with the workers who lost their jobs still waiting for answers.

They were supposed to come from a long-awaited report into events that led up to the collapse, but the government decision to delay its publication is a bitter blow.

Now those people will have to wait even longer, first while the Serious Fraud Office decides whether there are grounds for a prosecution and then, if there are grounds, even more weeks and months while the investigation takes place.

Many former Rover workers are astonished at the latest development.

Anil Chandra, for example, is concerned that it is all part of a delaying tactic by the government to cover up past mistakes.

Is it gold plated? Has it got gold ink?

Former worker Anil Chandra

He said: "Why else would you want to delay the publication of the report?

"It's cost £16m. Is it gold plated? Has it got gold ink? It is very expensive and to actually hold back the results is ludicrous."

There has also been dismay from automotive industry experts. Prof David Bailey from Coventry University's Business School cannot understand why a fraud investigation was not launched earlier.

He said: "It's a surprise that the Serious Fraud Office is now being asked to come in some four years after the collapse of MG Rover.

"If there was any suspicion of inappropriate behaviour then the SFO should have been brought in much earlier so why have we waited four years for this?"

New management

With the remaining parts of Longbridge now under new management, it is thought the new inquiry, if it happens, will focus on the role played by the old management, known as the Phoenix Four.

They have always maintained they did nothing wrong. In a statement they maintain that there has never been any suggestion of improper conduct by the directors.

They add: "This was confirmed in a report by administrators six months after the firm collapsed."

An emergency debate in the Commons has also seen the government facing more criticism. Opposition parties have claimed that it was trying to kick the whole MG Rover issue into the "long grass".

Whatever the reason, the hope is that it does not take another four years to get the answers everyone has been waiting for.