The former chairman and chief executive of Bula Resources, Mr Jim Stanley, is taking legal action to have the findings of a Government-appointed inspector, Mr Lyndon MacCann, quashed.

In a lengthy interview with The Irish Times in Moscow, Mr Stanley (59) claimed that the two main findings of the report were incorrect and that he was confident he could have them overturned. An application for leave for a judicial review of the report is to be made within the next two weeks.

"If you ask people about me, I don't think you'll find anybody who would describe me as stupid, and I would have to be stupid to do what he says I've done," Mr Stanley said.

Mr Stanley did not meet Mr MacCann during the inspector's nine-month inquiry, despite a High Court order that he should do so. His comments to The Irish Times are his first in public on the controversy since he resigned from Bula in April of last year.

In his report, published in July, Mr MacCann found that Mr Stanley was the owner of a British Virgin Islands company, Mir Oil Development Ltd, to which 101 million Bula shares were transferred in 1995 as part of a deal negotiated by Mr Stanley. Approximately 27 million of these shares were subsequently sold, netting Mr Stanley £660,000 sterling.

However, Mr Stanley said it was not true that he was the owner of Mir when the shares were transferred. He said the company was owned by Mr Craig Bond, the son of the disgraced Australian tycoon Alan Bond.

He said the money from the sale of the shares was given to him by Mr Bond as part settlement of a debt from another business venture.

Mr Stanley also contested Mr MacCann's finding that he had instructed a Bula technical consultant to draft a false oil well report. In October 1996, Bula announced a flow of 942 barrels a day from a test well in a Siberian oil field. In fact the oil flow was "insignificant". Mr MacCann found in his report that the false well report was drafted under instruction from Mr Stanley and the former Bula technical manager, Mr Tim Howell.

In his action to overturn Mr MacCann's findings, Mr Stanley will argue that the report "exceeds the inspector's remit" and "is based on purported evidence that is inadmissible, rumour and hearsay". He will also contend that the inspector "misdirected himself in law and applied unfair procedures in the course of his inspection and that no reasonable inspector acting within his jurisdiction and properly directing himself in law could have reached the conclusions reached by Mr MacCann".

Mr Stanley could not say if Mr Craig Bond would be willing to give evidence in court to support his case.

In early 1995, Mr Stanley negotiated a deal between Bula, Mir Oil Development Ltd and a Russian company, KMNGG. In return for 101 million shares and a commitment to fund the development of a Siberian oil field, Bula was to get a share of the licence for the field. The licence was held by KMNGG and was to be transferred to a joint venture company which would be created for the purposes of the deal.

In fact, the licence was never transferred.

At the time of the deal, the directors of Bula questioned Mr Stanley as to the ownership of Mir Oil. Mr Stanley told his fellow directors that Mir Oil was owned by Mr Charles Ellis, of South Africa. Mr MacCann, in his report, said that this was a deliberate lie on Mr Stanley's part.

In October of last year the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, appointed Mr MacCann under section 14 of the Companies Act 1990 to inquire into the ownership of the shares transferred by Bula to Mir Oil.

Mr MacCann travelled to Moscow twice but on both occasions Mr Stanley refused to turn up for interview. "I wanted to meet with him but I was legally advised not to," Mr Stanley said.

The Irish Times interview with Mr Stanley was conducted in his office in central Moscow, where he now lives. He said he was involved in a number of business ventures in Russia but would not elaborate. He has not been back to Ireland in more than a year, though he was in London as recently as last month.

Mr Stanley said the fact that he was technically in contempt of court for refusing to meet the inspector, acted as a "disincentive" to his visiting Ireland.

Bula is holding an extraordinary general meeting on November 16th to consider the contents of Mr MacCann's report. The company has an order freezing the remaining 74 million Bula shares held by Mir Oil and a worldwide High Court order prohibiting the disposal of assets held by Mr Stanley.

However, Mr Stanley said that since his resignation he had sold his house in Sweden, netting £100,000 after paying off the mortgage. He had also sold shares in Bula and in Ovoca Resources, realising approximately £112,000.