The investigation into the Bula Resources/ Mir Oil controversy is to cost the taxpayer £264,000. Other Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment investigations currently under way are set to cost a further £186,000.
The barrister who carried out the Bula investigation, Mr Lyndon MacCann, was appointed under Section 14 of the Companies Act 1990, which does not provide for the costs of such investigations to be recovered from third parties. A change in the law in this regard is being considered by the department.
Other investigations concerning matters contained in the McCracken report and being carried out by authorised officers appointed under the same act, are also to be paid for by the taxpayer.
Mr MacCann was paid fees of £51,469. He was appointed by the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, in October 1997 and delivered his report in July. The bulk of the work was completed earlier this year and publication of the report was delayed pending the completion of procedures in England and Jersey.
The report found that the former chairman and chief executive of Bula, Mr Jim Stanley, was the beneficial owner of a company, Mir Oil, to which over 100 million Bula shares were transferred as part of an oil deal set up by Mr Stanley.
Mr MacCann's investigation incurred costs, other than fees, of approximately £150,000, according to documentation released by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment on foot of a Freedom of Information request. During his investigation, Mr MacCann, and an assistant he employed, Mr Fintan O'Connor BL, travelled to South Africa, Sweden, Russia and Jersey. Mr MacCann engaged the services of stenographers, interpreters and a firm of solicitors based in Russia.
A further £64,000 was spent on other legal fees and a payment to the Jersey authorities. The Jersey Financial Services Department appointed an inspector under their Company Securities (Insider Dealing) (Jersey) Law 1988, on foot of an approach from Mr MacCann, and the department met costs of £24,500 resulting from that inquiry.
William Fry solicitors were paid £27,846 for their work for Mr MacCann and a barrister, Mr Shane Murphy, was paid £11,619 for his work for Mr MacCann in relation to a number of High Court hearings.
The department has provided £40,000 for the costs of a number of investigations being carried out by in-house staff appointed as authorised officers. These investigations have to do with matters arising from the McCracken Report and concern Garuda Ltd, Celtic Helicopters and five companies connected with the Ansbacher deposits.
An accountant, Mr George Maloney, of O'Hare & Associates, has been paid £50,000 for work as an authorised officer appointed to Faxhill Homes, the company which carried out work on the home of the former Fine Gael minister, Mr Michael Lowry.
A further £56,000 has been spent on the inquiry into the Clonmannon Retirement Village, in Ashford, Co Wicklow. The department has allocated £30,000 against costs of further investigations which may arise and for costs arising from a court case earlier this year in the Cayman Islands initiated by Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd.
Two inspectors, Mr John Blayney SC and Mr Tom Grace, currently inquiring into National Irish Bank, were appointed by the High Court pursuant to a section of the Companies Act which allows for the payment of some or all of the costs of the inquiry, by the subject of the inquiry.
