Qu Li, a Chinese automotive consultant controversially employed by MG Rover, has emerged as a participant in talks to buy the assets of LDV, the Birmingham vanmaker that collapsed into administration in June.
MG Rover was criticised in a recent government-sponsored report for paying ￡1.7m in commissions to companies associated with Ms Li. The money was for her services advising on and brokering deals with Chinese partners. These included Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, whose withdrawal from joint venture talks with MG Rover in 2005 triggered its collapse with 6,000 job losses.
Ms Li, a metallurgy Phd with connections in the Chinese motor industry, had a personal relationship with Nick Stephenson, one of the “Phoenix Four” directors who owned and ran MG Rover. The inspectors described the fact that Mr Stephenson was primarily responsible for Ms Li's remuneration as “thoroughly unsatisfactory”. They acknowledged her hard work but said that her fees were “excessive”.