The former chairman of Bula Resources, Mr Jim Stanley, made a business suggestion to the chairman of Tuskar Resources, Mr Frank Traynor, in 1996, which Mr Traynor considered "highly unethical and improper", according to the MacCann report.

The two men met in a Dublin restaurant, Rolys, in February 1996 and over dinner Mr Stanley tried to encourage Mr Traynor to get involved in an oil project in the Keumsky region in Russia.

"Jim Stanley told Mr Traynor that he and his son Brendan controlled a Mir company which was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands and which was involved in relation to the Salymskoye oil field," according to the MacCann report. "According to Mr Traynor, Jim Stanley also stated that incorporation in the British Virgin Islands was useful for the purposes of secrecy".

Mr Traynor indicated in evidence to Mr MacCann that the Mir company came up for mention in relation to a proposed deal involving the Keumsky oil field. "Jim Stanley told him that Keumsky had some association with Mir and he also promised Mr Traynor that if Mr Traynor arranged for Tuskar to acquire the Keumsky oil field licence, some 100,000 Tuskar shares would be made available to Mr Traynor (ie if Tuskar were to bid for the Keumsky company, some arrangement would be made for Mr Traynor personally, where Tuskar shares issued to the Keumsky company would be held for Mr Traynor personally)."

Mr Traynor stated to Mr MacCann that he considered the proposal to be highly unethical and improper and that he therefore rejected it. At the time of the conversation, Bula was one of the principal shareholders in Tuskar.