€9m loan to solicitor is gone, court told

Solicitor Thomas Byrne was present at the Four Courts in Dublin yesterday when separate proceedings brought against him by the Law Society and IIB Bank plc were before the High Court.

Mr Byrne's practice has been closed by the Law Society, he is being pursued by a number of banks over alleged mortgage fraud and, it emerged yesterday, a sum of €9 million loaned to him by IIB Bank which the bank later sought to freeze is gone.

In the IIB proceedings, Mr Justice Frank Clarke was told that a freezing order over accounts held by Mr Byrne with National Irish Bank had been too late to prevent the disappearance of a sum of €9 million, loaned by IIB Bank to Mr Byrne and lodged in an National Irish Bank (NIB) account.

IIB, in an effort to trace the money, secured orders permitting it to see documents relating to the NIB account and to any parties who may have had dealings with the monies.

Those orders apply from September 10th, when the €9 million was lodged, to the granting of the freezing order on October 22nd.

Michael Cush SC, for IIB, said Mr Byrne had said he would co-operate and therefore IIB was free to make inquiries of third parties relating to the monies.

Seán Ó Siothchain BL, for Mr Byrne, said his client was prepared to swear an affidavit and hoped to have that available next Monday.

It would be helpful if his client could see the documents released by NIB to IIB in that regard, he added.

Mr Cush said Mr Byrne was a party to the proceedings and there was no difficulty about his seeing the documents.

Mr Justice Clarke said IIB could make the proposed inquiries and he also continued orders freezing Mr Byrne's accounts and preventing him reducing his assets below €9 million.

In the proceedings brought by the Law Society against Mr Byrne before the president of the High Court, Mr Justice Richard Johnson, Mr Byrne agreed, through his counsel Mr Ó Siothchain, instructed by Christie and Gargan solicitors, to the continuation of orders freezing his accounts and closing his practice, Thomas Byrne & Company, located at Walkinstown Road, Dublin.

The Law Society applied yesterday for its proceedings, initiated last week in private, to be heard in public.

Mr Ó Siothchain said he had just come into the proceedings and it might be preferable if they remained private.

However, Mr Justice Johnson said that, given the publicity already given to the case, it would be "futile" to keep it in private and he directed it be heard in public.

After it was established that Mr Byrne's wife, EBS and NIB were represented in court, the judge directed they be made notice parties to the proceedings and he also directed that all banks who had dealings with Mr Byrne pool the lists of properties, and the sums involved, with each other and also with the Law Society.

Patrick Leonard, for the EBS, said it had loaned "substantial" sums to Mr Byrne. Declan McGrath BL, for NIB, said it had interests in a number of properties.

Both sets of proceedings were returned to Monday next.

STATEMENT: Thomas Byrne

In a statement on behalf of Mr Byrne issued through his solicitors yesterday, it was stated Mr Byrne had appeared before the court and, as an officer of the court, would continue to do so as often as was necessary to fully resolve the matters in controversy.

He would co-operate fully with all responsible authorities to that end, it said.

Mr Byrne, the statement added, "deplores the unworthy, idle, hurtful and irrelevant speculation about his domestic and private life" in certain media coverage, "including unfounded assertions (linked to spurious official sources) that he had absconded".

Mr Byrne was determined to address all the issues touching upon the conduct of his practice and was confident all facts surrounding this matter would "be made clear in due course".