Fears grow for lawyer who owes banks €50m
MYSTERY last night surrounded the whereabouts of a disgraced solicitor who owes more than €50m to a host of banks after a court heard a private investigator has been unable to track him down.
Thomas Byrne, who is being investigated by the Garda Fraud Squad and the Criminal Assets Bureau, had previously turned up at numerous court hearings.
But fears are now growing for the safety of the Dubliner, who was struck off the solicitors' roll recently after being found guilty of mortgage fraud by the Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal.
High Court judge Mr Justice Peter Kelly yesterday suggested that IIB Bank, which is seeking to recoup €9m from Mr Byrne, should contact the gardai and the Law Society to seek their assistance in tracing him.
The Irish Independent has learned that if efforts to find Mr Byrne are unsuccessful, formal assistance may be sought within days from the garda by concerned creditors.
The Garda Fraud Squad, which is scrutinising Law Society files handed over to it by order of the High Court, is not actively seeking Mr Byrne as no criminal charges have been laid against him.
No applications have yet been made to seize his passport and he is free to leave the country.
However, unlike missing solicitor Michael Lynn, Mr Byrne has thus far remained in the country to answer questions about his property dealings.
Cian Ferriter, barrister for IIB Bank, which loaned the solicitor €9m last year, revealed that a private investigator it has hired has been unable to personally serve legal documents on him.
He said the private eye visited Mr Byrne's address at an apartment in Lad Lane, Dublin, but could see there was lots of unopened post inside and there was no indication that Mr Byrne was currently living there.
Mr Ferriter also revealed that the private investigator went to Mr Byrne's mother's address in Walkinstown, Dublin, but it did not appear she was living there.
Mr Byrne, a father of three, is estranged from his wife and IIB said other efforts to trace him had proved unsuccessful.
Mr Justice Peter Kelly adjourned for a week an application to admit proceedings against Mr Byrne to the High Court's big business division, the Commercial Court.
The proceedings relate to a €1m property in Crumlin, Dublin, which the bank claims was advanced as part security, along with other properties, for a €9m loan made last year to Mr Byrne.
The bank wants to enforce judgment, obtained last November against Mr Byrne, after he defaulted on the loan.
The proceedings have also been brought against solicitor Donal Corrigan, with an address at The Matrix, Churchtown, Dublin, as he is claiming he has a priority interest in the Crumlin property.
Mr Corrigan claims he assigned his interest in the property to Mr Byrne in September 2007 for €800,000 and received a cheque for that amount which was later dishonoured.
Asked whether the bank had contacted the Law Society, Mr Ferriter told the judge they had done so and hoped that avenue might bear fruit.
l One of the country's most prominent solicitors was fined €15,000 after he appeared before a Solicitor's Disciplinary Hearing following an investigation by the Law Society.
- Tim Healy and Dearbhail McDonald
