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A high-powered investigation team will next month be appointed to probe the “complete and utter mess” of the finances of West Ham’s new home at the London Stadium.

Mayor Sadiq Khan’s officials today revealed they have approached “several independent companies” about conducting the enquiry into how the costs of converting the former Olympic athletics stadium at Stratford were allowed to “skyrocket.”

The investigation was first announced in November but Mr Khan today pledged that the “no stones unturned” audit will examine all aspects of the troubled financial history of the stadium.

Mr Khan said: “There are some huge questions that need to be answered about the financing of the London Stadium. We need to find out how on earth the transformation costs were allowed to skyrocket, and whether appropriate checks were made before key decisions were made.

“But just as important in this process will be looking to the future to ensure we get the stadium into a situation where we are able to reduce its cost to the taxpayer and it can operate as a successful multi-purpose stadium that our city can be proud of.”

The bill for turning the arena where Sir Mo Farah, Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill and Greg Rutherford struck gold into a replacement for the Hammers’ Boleyn Ground has soared to £323 million, some £50 million more than forecast by Mr Khan’s predecessor Boris Johnson.

Issues that will investigated include:

The negotiations that led to the plans for the conversion of the stadium from Olympic athletics stadium to “multi-use arena."

How the financial and operations projections that underpinned the use of public money spent on the works were drawn up and who was responsible for them.

Whether the work leading up to the key decisions “was sufficiently robust” to ensure value for money for the taxpayer.

The stadium’s future financial viability.

Under the terms of their deal with the London Legacy Development Corporation, West Ham contributed only £15 million towards the conversion cost with the rest met by the taxpayer.

The annual bill for running the stadium has been inflated by higher than expected costs for installing and operating retractable seating that can be removed for concerts and athletics events during the summer. This was originally estimated as a five day job costing £300,000 but will in fact take three times as long and cost around £8 million.

West Ham won the bid to occupy the Olympic Stadium in March 2013 and played their first game there in August 2016, after 112 years at their former home in Upton Park. However, early games were blighted by crowd trouble and violence.