The Charity Commission has appointed an interim manager to oversee the winding up of the Park Charitable Trust, which is under statutory inquiry over concerns about its investment tactics.

The trust, which is based in Manchester, was shown in its most recent accounts as having a total income of £2.6m. 

It had investment assets of £30.6m and other assets of £1.2m, but debts of £30.7m, mostly bank loans and overdrafts.

The regulator opened a statutory inquiry into the charity in June 2014 and has now appointed Ian Oakley-Smith, head of charities at PricewaterhouseCoopers as the interim manager. 

Oakley-Smith took over the running of the trustees from the trustees on 16 August and will also conduct a review of charity activity that will look at its investments, establish the assets, liabilities and creditors to the charity, and the past governance of the trustee board. 

As the trustees have told the Commission that they intend to wind up the charity the regulator has asked Oakley-Smith to complete the dissolution of the charity “to ensure that this action is completed in a transparent and open manner and by a non-conflicted person”. 

The Park Charitable Trust is Jewish charity based in Manchester and was founded in 2002. Its most recent accounts, for the financial year ending March 2015, show that while no staff or trustees were paid one of the three trustees is a shareholder in companies that were paid more than £100,000. 

Once the Commission has completed the statutory inquiry it will publish a report.