The financial authorities in the UK have imposed a fine of £14million and have issued a severe reprimand against Deloitte not managing its conflicts of interest when advising MG Rover and its owners.

An independent tribunal for the Financial Reporting Council has accused the company of 13 counts of misconduct in Deloitte's role in the run-up to the car group's collapse in 2005. The regulator ahs also barred barred former Deloitte corporate finance partner Maghsoud Einollahi from the profession for a period of three years and fined him £250,000, while the company has agreed to cover his costs.

It was found that the company ignored possible conflicts of interest when to worked with the buyers of Rover and the group of local businessmen known as the Phoenix Four. The panel said that the company did not tell its audit client Rover to get an independent advice after the Phoenix Four took over the company from BMW in 2000.

"It is difficult to think that the respondents would not have been aware of these conflicts. It would appear that they chose to ignore the evidence," the tribunal said yesterday.