Inquiry into Bula directors' meeting

A meeting of Bula directors, which approved a deal in Bahrain that cost the former plc approximately €1.2 million, is one of the matters being focused on by officials inquiring into the company.

The meeting in the Bula offices in Stillorgan, Co Dublin, was attended by the then chairman, former Taoiseach Mr Albert Reynolds, Mr Pat Gillen and Mr William Lowry. It took place on June 28th, 2001. Mr Tom Kelly, who was not a director at the time but was acting chief executive, was not in attendance though he was available by phone.

The minutes of the meeting were not signed until October 24th, 2001, according to sources, by which time Mr Gillen was no longer a board member.

He had been co-opted to the board a few days before the June meeting but his appointment was not proceeded with at Bula's annual general meeting in September 2001.

The June meeting is understood to be of interest to officials from the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) conducting an inquiry into Bula because it sanctioned the controversial deal. It was the only item on the agenda for the meeting, according to the source.

Mr Reynolds, speaking from Cheltenham, told The Irish Times yesterday that he had not been contacted by the ODCE in relation to the Bahrain deal. He said the deal was approved by the Bula board and the associated payment was paid by company executives in the normal way.

The deal involved Bula putting down what was described to shareholders as a €1.5 million "deposit", which was to be refunded if the deal did not go ahead. The deal did not proceed but the money was not repaid. Mr Reynolds said he put up €300,000 of the €1.5 million deposit from his own funds. He did not get any of his money back, he said.

Mr Reynolds did not put himself forward for re-election as chairman of Bula at the company's a.g.m. in September 2002. At that meeting, Mr Reynolds offered to buy the deal from Bula for another company he is associated with - Life Energy & Technology Holdings - which is listed in the US. The shareholders did not support such a move.

In a letter recently filed in the Companies Registration Office, the former Bula company secretary, Mr Con Casey (who was not a director), notified the company of his resignation and informed it that he would continue to be available to the ODCE in relation to its inquiry. "I will of course continue to assist and to make myself available to the detectives from the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement in their ongoing investigation", he wrote.

Bula, which has some 43,000 shareholders, was delisted in 2002 and placed into liquidation earlier this week.

The liquidator is Mr James Stafford of Friel Stafford accountants, Dublin.