The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into grant-giver the Catalyst Trust over concerns about more than £60,000 of “unexplained transactions” and whether the charity has been used for private benefits.

A complaint about the Hampshire-based charity, made to the regulator in October last year, raised questions about its financial management. It prompted the Commission to look into the trust’s activities and carry out an inspection of its books and records in February.

The complaint also questioned whether it had been in the best interests of the charity, which registered in 2008, for the trustees to accept a property as a gift.

The Commission, which opened the inquiry on 10 June, said it was concerned about the accuracy of the charity’s accounts.

Its analysis of the trust’s accounts found unexplained transactions totalling more than £60,000, the regulator said, and it has never declared more than £25,000 on its annual returns. The charity has never submitted full accounts.

For the year to 1 December 2012, the charity had income of £4,500 and spent just £500, according to the accounts filed with the Commission.

The inquiry will look at the financial management and administration of the charity, particularly how it has been operated in furtherance of its charitable purposes for the public benefit, the Commission said.

It will investigate whether the charity has been used for private benefit and whether the trustees have complied with their duties and responsibilities under charity law.

Jonathan Bowles, one of the charity's three trustees, said: "We will strenuously defend any inquiry into poor governance or any allegations that the trustees have materially benefitted.

"Furthermore the charity will be shut down at the earliest opportunity as the trustees do not need unwarranted stress."