The former chairman of Bula Resources, Mr Jim Stanley, sold off just under four million shares in the company in June and July. The sale would have netted him about £55,000. Mr Stanley has also sold 395,000 shares he held in another company, Ovoca Resources. This sale would have netted him £65,170.
Ovoca shared offices with Bula until recently. Mr Stanley was chairman of Ovoca up to July. The Ovoca share sale is thought to have occurred late last month. Mr Stanley resigned as chairman of Bula in April.
Mr Stanley is understood to be living in Russia currently and pursuing possible resources ventures there. Mr Stanley's son, Brendan, is also understood to be in Russia, involved in similar activity.
In 1996 Bula company accounts, Mr Stanley is listed as holding 10.3 million ordinary Bula shares. On Wednesday, the company register showed Mr Stanley as having 6.1 million shares. He sold two million shares on June 24th and 1.9 million shares on July 11th.
Mr Stanley recently advised Ovoca of his having sold 395,000 of their shares. Mr Stanley had formerly told the company that he was the beneficial owner of 900,000 shares in the company. The company has now written to him asking under what name these other shares are being held. The letter was sent to an address in Moscow.
Ovoca shares are currently priced at 16.5p. Bula shares are priced at 1.375p.
Ovoca has written to Chamonix Nominees Ltd, a company in Jersey which has a major shareholding in Ovoca, seeking information on who is the beneficial owner of the shares held in its name. It has also written to a number of other nominee companies.
Chamonix Nominees holds 73.7 million shares in Bula. These shares are the subject of a High Court "freezing" order. The order is linked to issues at the centre of the dispute which led to the Government appointing an inspector to look into dealings Bula had in Russia.
Mr Stanley's shareholding on the Bula register gives his address as 5 Blenheim Avenue, St Saviour, Jersey, which is, in fact, the home of Ms Susan Neil, a director of Chamonix.
Ms Neil has said she let Mr Stanley use the address when he was between homes and needed to give an address for registering his shares. He had never set foot in the house, she said.
