A five-year investigation into the near collapse of Royal Bank of Scotland has found “insufficient evidence” to press criminal charges against its former chief executive Fred Goodwin or any of his colleagues.

The Crown Office have been probing what has been called the biggest corporate disaster in British history since late 2011. The inquiry was the biggest of its kind conducted by Scotland’s prosecution service.

It has ended with no action being taken against any of senior figures in charge of the Edinburgh-based bank when it failed in October 2008, although that could change if new evidence emerges through a civil action being brought against the RBS by shareholders.

The UK Government had to rescue RBS with a £45bn bail out, just four months after investors pumped £12bn into the bank through a rights issue.

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In December 2011, a Financial Services Authority report on the bank’s failure said it “played an important role within an overall financial crisis which produced a major recession.”

The Crown Office revealed on Thursday that its investigation had concluded after a large team of specialists examined more than 160,000 documents.

A spokesman said: “The failure of RBS is an issue of great public concern. The Crown undertook a thorough, independent investigation following publication of the FSA report in December 2011.

“The Crown’s investigation focussed on the rights issue of April-June 2008, and involved detailed consideration of whether there was any evidence of criminal conduct associated with the rights issue.

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“If there were such evidence those responsible would face prosecution. If not, the public in Scotland could be reassured that the matter had been properly investigated.”

The spokesman said the investigation was “extremely complex” involving a large team of specialist forensic accountants and banking experts, supervised by the Serious and Organised Crime Division.

He added: “The investigation involved close co-operation with a range of financial regulators and banking institutions, including the Financial Conduct Authority, the Prudential Regulation Authority, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Serious Fraud Office and the Financial Reporting Council.

“Following careful examination of all the evidence seen to date, Crown Counsel have decided that there is insufficient evidence in law of criminal conduct either in relation to RBS as an institution or any directors or other senior management involved in the rights issue.

“If any further evidence comes to light which is relevant to this enquiry it will be considered by the Crown and we reserve the right to make further enquiry, if considered appropriate.”

The FSA previously said RBS executive and management had made “errors of judgement and execution”.

Shareholders have brought a £4bn legal action against RBS over the rights issue, which followed the bank’s disastrous takeover of ABN Amro when Fred Goodwin was chief executive. Investors saw 90% wiped off the value of their shares within months.

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It has been reported that more than 63,000 small shareholders lost money, with many more affected through pension funds. The biggest average loss of nearly £5500 was suffered by 1700 investors based in Edinburgh.

The civil case is expected to go to trial at the Commercial Court in London in March next year.