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Last month, business Secretary Peter Mandelson had referred an independent report on MG Rover's demise to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) -- and called on it to consider whether a criminal investigation was necessary.
"The Serious Fraud Office has announced that it does not intend to begin a criminal investigation into the sale of car manufacturer, MG Rover Group, following a review of documents sent by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills," the SFO said in a statement on Tuesday.
It added that a small team of investigators have studied the report and made recommendations to SFO Director Richard Alderman, who also took advice from lawyers.
"The director then made the decision not to initiate a criminal investigation. As the inspectors' report has not been made public, the SFO is unable to go into detail about the reasons for its decision," the statement continued.
In reaction on Tuesday, the British government said it will publish its long-awaited report on MG Rover next month, on September 11.
The government's four-year investigation focused on what went wrong between the sale of the company in 2000 to a consortium, Phoenix Ventures, and its collapse five years later with the loss of 6,000 jobs.
MG Rover folded in April 2005 with debts of more than one billion pounds (1.15 billion euros, 1.6 billion dollars). Chinese company Nanjing Automobile went on to buy its assets, reviving the MG sports car brand.
