Rangers could be punished even if Craig Whyte leaves club, says SFA chief executive Stewart Regan

“I don’t think it is appropriate to go into what the independent inquiry will look at. It is looking at a range of activities which have gone on at the club over the last few months in particular - and possibly pre-dating that - and we will decide what happens next when the board has received its report.”

The chief executive did, though, stress that Rangers would be liable for any wrongdoing on behalf of Whyte or his predecessors.

“If there is a new Official Return, the club itself will be held to account,” he said. “It all depends on the specific elements within the report and which Articles may have been breached. The board has power to hold the club to account.”

Regan’s tribunal will join the queue of people wishing to interrogate Whyte.

“That is one of the options open to the independent inquiry,” Regan confirmed, while revealing that the length of the investigation is open-ended.

“There isn’t a timescale because it depends what comes out of the independent inquiry,” he said. "At this stage it is about gathering the facts and understanding what has gone on at Rangers football club.

"We would like to conclude it as quickly as possible but we are not putting ourselves into a box concerning timescale. The enquiry will look at everything that has gone on.”

Regan also condemned the apparent lack of co-operation and courtesy that Whyte has shown to the SFA but expressed his determination to “flush out” the information the Rangers owner has thus far refused to disclose.

"I said in my statement last week that the SFA have been kept at arms length by the club’s solicitors,” he said.

"Despite our best endeavours to get information that would allow us to take a considered view we just haven’t had any information. We wanted to give the club every chance to explain the situation but that has been difficult.

"We decided that it now has to be escalated and we have asked an independent enquiry with three, strong, high-profile individuals from the legal, financial and business communities, including Neil Lothian who has just received an OBE for corporate and civil governance.

"We believe the quality of these individuals will flush out the details we need to know and provide the board with whatever evidence we need to decide what happens next.”

The investigation into a club owner who has refused to hold an AGM or publish audited accounts is unlikely to be straightforward but Regan is confident that the truth will come out.

"It is difficult for me to go into details, but there is a lot of information we need to look at, particularly information held by the administrator,” he said.

"The first steps our panel will take will be to meet the administrator this week and start to get a picture of the facts they have pieced together over the last week.

"Once that happens they will start to formulate their views in relation to the Articles of Association and where any breaches have happened.

"Allegations of unlawful or criminal activity is not a job for the SFA. Our panel is only looking at the SFA’s article.

"If we do discover any information we are duty bound to pass it on but so far there has been no transparency or disclosure.

"That has made the board determined to find out what has gone on at the club and then decide how we deal with that. I want us to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible.

"We clearly were concerned at the stories that were emerging not just with Rangers, but the allegations against Mr Whyte. We decided that, having been held at arm’s length from October to the end of January, enough was enough and we had tolaunch an enquiry into what was going on.

"A number of requests were made to solicitors that were acting for Mr Whyte. I don’t know how many letters were involved but there was a lot and we were becoming increasingly frustrated at the obstructions preventing us finding out information we needed.

"I think the BBC documentary [in October] last year was the catalyst for us to get under the skin of what might be going on.”

Regan also stressed that there are no hard-and-fast guidelines for the SFA’s “fit and proper person” rule.

"There is no fit and proper person test as such,” he said. "What a club does is sign up to our articles and effectively says, ‘All our directors are fit and proper.’

"Regarding Mr Whyte, there were question marks being raised while we were looking for that information.

"There were other issues which also became clear, although I cannot go into details. Article 10.2 gives the SFA board powers which brings into focus the behaviour of any director, which in this case means Mr Whyte.

"We have been trying to establish information around a range of activities.”

Article 10.2 (g) specifically rules out the appointment of an individual if… “he has been disqualified as a director pursuant to the Companies Directors’ Disqualification Act 1986 within the previous five years.”

Whyte had been disqualified as a director between 2000 and 2007, four years before he assumed control of Rangers from Murray.