Tony Fernandes has accused the consortium behind Caterham of failing to honour their obligations as a public feud between the two parties has descended into a war of words.

On Wednesday, a statement issued on behalf of Engavest, the mystery group of Swiss and Middle Eastern businessmen that took on Caterham from Fernandes in June, threatened legal action against the Malaysian entrepreneur.

The consortium claimed there has been no transfer of shares that would make their ownership of the team legally binding.

They have effectively washed their hands of the team, withdrawing the management that was in place, and informed Fernandes he is again in charge.

Fernandes, owner of airline AirAsia and Barclays Premier League side QPR, has wasted little time in issuing a response.

A statement issued on behalf of Fernandes and the Caterham Group, of which he is co-chairman, read: "In June 2014, I decided, together with my co-shareholders, to sell my stake in the Caterham F1 team.

"We agreed in good faith to sell the shares to a Swiss company named 'Engavest' on the basis that Engavest undertook to pay all of the existing and future creditors, including the staff.

"The continued payment of staff and creditors was so important to me that I ensured the shares would not be transferred to the new buyers unless they complied with this condition.

"Sadly, Engavest has failed to comply with any of the conditions in the agreement and Caterham Sports Ltd (the UK operating company of the F1 team) has had to be put into administration by the bank, with large sums owing to numerous creditors.

"Our agreement with Engavest was very clear: there was no legal obligation to transfer the shares to them unless certain conditions - which included paying creditors - were met.

"Those conditions have not been met. Our lawyers have asked Engavest several times to comply with these conditions but they have failed to engage.

"If you agree to buy a business, you must pay its bills.

"They have breached that promise and now, sadly, it is others such as the employees and the fans of the Caterham F1 team that will suffer if the team ceases to race.

"I sincerely hope this will not be the case and a solution can be found."

Former F1 team boss Colin Kolles, working as an advisor to Engavest, disputes Fernandes' remarks as he said: "You have to understand this deal was done on full disclosure basis.

"All the conditions and precedents have been fulfilled by the buyer.

"We have our position, and there is nothing more to say. But the administrators, they are not seeing the clear picture."

Caterham Group CEO Graham Macdonald, however, has questioned the ultimate ambitions of the Engavest consortium.

"It appears to me they never had any intention of paying these liabilities," he said.

"I go on to question how anyone who was interested in the long-term future of the business would appoint one of their cleaners - Constantin Cojocar - as the sole director and shareholder of the UK operating company?

"We continue to see claims and counter claims from the F1 team which are totally unfounded.

"Not only have they failed to pay the creditors - and have even left our shareholders to pay some of the creditors on their behalf - but they have failed to pay us anything for use of our factory and site, or anything for the use of our brand name.

"In short, the new owners have paid us nothing, and now the administrators have been appointed, they want to walk away from their liabilities."

Behind the turmoil there are more than 200 staff at the Caterham F1 base in Leafield, Oxfordshire wondering whether they will be in a job beyond this weekend.

With the administrator closing the doors on the factory on Thursday, the cars due to be used for next weekend's race in the United States have been impounded just 48 hours ahead of their scheduled flight to Austin, Texas.

Kolles claims the cars belong to 1MRT, the F1 entry holder and company behind the team, and not Caterham Sports Ltd (CSL), who make and supply the cars and equipment.

London-based accountancy firm Smith & Williamson disagree, which is why the doors to the factory have been closed and staff locked out.

Kolles said: "We say very clearly: the cars and equipment belong to 1MRT. This is a simple fact. This is how it is even written by Mr Fernandes in 2011.

"If the administrators think they have to stop it, and if they have a different opinion to it, then we have to go a legal way - which is damages."

For now, it appears Caterham will not be lining up on the Circuit of the Americas grid in Austin.

Kolles added: "Everybody is prepared to go to Austin. The problem is if the administrators are not changing their mind it is difficult."

Unsurprisingly, Engavest later issued their own statement in response to Fernandes and Macdonald, strongly refuting the allegations.

The statement read: "Every single condition precedent of the Sales and Purchase Agreement for which Engavest was responsible has been met.

"Only the seller, which includes Mr Fernandes, failed to meet his obligations. All salaries have been paid.

"Engavest sold CSL. It did not appoint Mr Cojocar who, we believe, was a former top footballer for Steaua Bucarest during the 1980s.

"The claims of Mr Fernandes and Mr Macdonald contradict their own press statement dated 03 October 2014 - 'Caterham Group wishes to clarify that, following the sale of the F1 business in July, it has no affiliation with Caterham F1 Team'.

"That one sentence alone contains two errors: 1, the date was June 29; 2, having failed to transfer the shares Caterham Group and Mr Fernandes wholly owned Caterham F1 at the time of the statement, as they do today."