The Serious Fraud Office (SFO), the team that was called in to probe the collapse of MG Rover, has now decided to call off the investigation.

The SFO were asked to look into the collapse in July by Business Secretary Lord Mandelson to decipher the results of a four year independent report. The fraud squad said there was no evidence to support a criminal investigation and made no further comment.

The executives in charge of MG Rover when it collapsed in 2005, known as the Phoenix Four, have denied any wrongdoing after it was revealed they had taken an estimated £40 million in pay and pensions.

The four executives in control of MG Rover, the so-called Phoenix Four, have always denied any wrongdoing.

The Phoenix Four: John Towers, Nick Stephenson, Peter Beale and John Edwards said in a collective statement last month that the National Audit Office, the administrators and PricewaterhouseCoopers had all carried out investigations into MG Rover and there was “no evidence whatsoever of any wrongdoing”.