The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into the scandal-hit Cup Trust and has appointed an interim manager to take control of the charity and its affairs.

The inquiry was opened on 12 April, after it received new information from HMRC about 'significant recent events'.

The Commission used powers under the Charities Act 2011 to appoint Jonathan Burchfield, a partner of Stone King LLP, as interim manager of the charity. He will have all the powers and duties of the trustee. The corporate trustee - Mountstar PTC - will cease to have any ability or authority to act. This is a temporary appointment and will be reviewed by the Commission on a regular basis. Mountstar PTC is challenging the decision.

Michelle Russell, head of investigations & enforcement at the Charity Commission, said: 'We have had ongoing concerns about the charity's involvement in the Gift Aid scheme and the potential for damage to public trust and confidence. While we took no regulatory action pending HMRC's determination of the charity's Gift Aid claims, we have continued to look at the trustee's handling of its responsibilities and duties.

'We always made it clear that if new information came to light we might open a further investigation. In the light of our ongoing concerns, when we received new information from HMRC we took immediate steps to open a statutory inquiry.'

In March, the Commission's chair, William Shawcross, was criticised by the Public Accounts Committee chair, MP Margaret Hodge, for being unaware that The Cup Trust - which hit the headlines after it emerged that it was a scheme paying £46m in tax and only giving beneficiaries £55,000 - was a scam.

The Cup Trust employed an offshore bank loan to buy £1m gilts, which it then sold to investors who had paid a fee to join the scheme, for a nominal sum. The Trust then donated around £500 to charity on the investors' behalf. The investors then sold the gilts and 'donated' the money to the Cup Trust.

In April, the Commission refused a Freedom of Information request from The Times newspaper - which broke the original Cup Trust story - to release details of its correspondence surrounding its probe into the charity between March 2010 and March 2012.

Margaret Hodge told the paper that Commission's decision had raised 'yet further questions about whether they are fit for purpose'.

The under-fire organisation said it will publish a report of its findings.