Jersey appoints inspector to look at Bula/Mir deal

An inspector has been appointed on the island of Jersey to investigate aspects of the controversial Bula Resources/ Mir Oil deal.

The inspector can gain access to confidential information concerning the beneficial ownership of Mir Oil and trading by the company in Bula Resources shares. Mir Oil is registered in the British Virgin Islands but a Jersey company formations group, Chamonix Corporate Services Ltd, is the registered shareholder and has supplied a nominee director.

Information gathered by the Jersey inspector will be passed on to the Irish inspector investigating the Bula/Mir Oil deal and is likely to be of crucial importance to him.

The Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, appointed the inspector, Mr Lyndon McCann, three months ago to inquire into the deal and, among other matters, to establish the beneficial ownership of Mir Oil.

Some 101 million Bula shares were transferred to Mir Oil as part of a September 1995 deal.

Mr McCann travelled to Sweden yesterday to conduct further enquiries.

The Jersey inspector, appointed by the Finance and Economic Committee of the States of Jersey, has powers to view documents and interview people under oath. He can, if it is deemed necessary, seek information from banks and other financial institutions.

Jersey law is designed to allow inspectors work closely with their counterparts appointed in other jurisdictions. It allows inspectors to investigate transactions involving shares of companies from other jurisdictions in which Jersey companies played a part.

A spokesman for the Finance and Economic Committee said it was not its practice either to confirm or deny the appointment of an inspector. Inspectors are appointed under the Company Securities (Insider Dealing) (Jersey) Law 1988.

Chamonix Corporate Services Ltd was the registered shareholder of Mir Oil at the time of the 1995 deal. Ms Sue Neil, of Chamonix Nominees, an associated company, operated as a nominee director of Mir and told Bula, in confidence, at the time of the September 1995 deal, that the beneficial owner of Mir Oil was Mr Charles Ellis of South Africa. Mr Ellis has since denied any involvement with the company.

In February 1997, Ms Neil, on behalf of Mir, informed Bula that just under 28 million of the Bula shares transferred to Mir had been sold. In July, she informed the company that Mr Ellis was no longer the beneficial owner of Mir and had not been for some time. In August, she informed Bula she had resigned as secretary to Mir Oil. In September, she said she would not disclose the beneficial ownership of any company of which she was a director.

Late last year, the Australian businessman, Mr Craig Bond, said he was the owner of Mir Oil. Mr Bond is the son of the jailed Australian tycoon, Mr Alan Bond.

Meanwhile, Mr McCann has travelled to Sweden where he is likely to seek an interview with a Stockholmbased Russian-English translator, Ms Elena Loven. Ms Loven worked as a consultant for Bula and accompanied the former Bula chairman, Mr Jim Stanley, to Russia in 1995 when he was negotiating the Mir deal with the Russian company involved, KMNGG.

Bula Resources has been granted permission by the High Court to serve notice of legal proceedings on its former chairman, Mr Stanley, at addresses in Dublin, London and Moscow. Bula has been trying to serve notice on Mr Stanley since early November in relation to the Bula/Mir Oil deal.