Former Scott Wilson finance director Sean Cummins will now take over from Ashley Martin who resigned today

Rok suspended finance director Martin when it unveiled unexpected heavy losses at its plumbing heating and electrical business.

During the last few weeks, the Rok board has carried out a detailed investigation to determine the cause of the problems and future risks.

In a statement today, Rok said it had lifted Martin’s suspension “immediately and without reservation”.

It said: “The Board finds it regrettable if there has been any damage to Ashley’s good reputation by any speculation outside of the company to the contrary.

“The Board wishes to emphasize that Ashley has never been accused of wrongdoing nor have our investigations revealed any evidence of any malpractice.”

Despite this statement, Martin has decided to resign as a director and will leave the business after a short handover period.

His replacement Cummins, aged 48, has extensive experience as a finance director.  He joins Rok from Scott Wilson where he has held the position of group finance director since September 2007.

Rok has completed the detail investigation in the books of the troubled building services repairs arm.

Rok added: “The problems in the ex Avonside PHE business were due to a scaling back of sub-contracting work from the private housing sector and a combination of weak operational, commercial and financial controls within that part of the business.

“The actions to resolve these issues have already been taken by management.”