THE HIGH Court has ordered that a €54,000 deposit paid by fugitive solicitor Michael Lynn on a €1.1 million property, which he wanted to buy in Co Mayo, should be handed over to the Law Society.
Mr Lynn, who has been struck off the roll of solicitors and fined €2 million by the High Court, had planned to buy the property at Crow Hill, Westport, in September 2006 when he put down the €54,000 deposit.
However, Mr Lynn (40), originally from Crossmolina, Mayo, left the country shortly after it emerged in 2007 he had liabilities of more than €80 million.
Yesterday, the Law Society applied to the president of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, to have the deposit on Crow Hill transferred to the society, which has already paid out more than €1 million over claims made by clients of Mr Lynn. More than €900,000 was transferred from Mr Lynn’s client accounts to the society last October by High Court order. Paul Anthony McDermott, for the society, said they had served notice of its application on Mr Lynn. The High Court had last March ruled that he can be notified of legal proceedings by the placing of newspaper ads in Hungary and Portugal, two countries he is believed to have lived in since he fled.