The six-week trial of Mr Finbarr Ross at Belfast Crown Court heard a series of conflicting allegations about the demise of his ill-fated investment firm. It also emerged that figures from the legal, accounting and property professions in Dublin were intimately involved with either the management or liquidation of IIL, which collapsed in 1984 with debts of more than £7 million sterling.

Among those cited in the case was a senior barrister, Mr Colm Allen SC, who was chairman of a committee of inspection formed in 1984 to assist IIL's liquidator, Mr James Galliano. The court heard also that a partner in the accounting firm KPMG - then Stokes Kennedy Crowley - Mr Declan Collins, had been appointed as Mr Galliano's Irish agent, "at the request" of Mr Allen.

A Dublin auctioneer, Mr Frank Murray, managed IIL's property portfolio when it was still trading, the court was told. Mr Murray was also described as the firm's chairman in banking correspondence read to the court.

IIL was advised by a Dublin solicitor, Mr Oliver Conlon, the court heard. But another Dublin lawyer, Mr Paul Smithwick, was hired after Mr Conlon became ill. The court was told a former journalist with The Irish Times, Mr Karl Jones, was co-owner of IIL with Mr Ross when it was established in 1977. Mr Jones was said to have relinquished his stake the same year.

IIL offered "attractive interest rates" to clients, using deposits to fund its property and art investments in Ireland and property and energy investments in the US. Registered in Gibraltar to avail of offshore tax concessions, the firm was managed in Dublin.

But most of its depositors lived in Northern Ireland because foreign investments from the Republic were governed by exchange control regulations. A network of brokers on both sides of the Border acted as conduits between IIL and its clients. IIL paid brokers a commission for this work.

The charges against Mr Ross, who was extradited to Northern Ireland from the US last May, centre on a four-week period in December 1983 and January 1984, about six months before the firm collapsed. The Co Cork-born former financier faced 41 counts of fraud and false accounting. He was acquitted by order of the judge on two charges during the trial.

Mr Ross was accused in three charges of "falsely representing" the viability of IIL at a meeting with brokers and investors at the Stormont hotel in Belfast on December 15th, 1983. The Crown said this was an attempt by Mr Ross, the firm's controller, to illegally secure additional deposits for a firm which, it said, was "hopelessly insolvent".

"The meeting at Stormont was an attempt to gain new investment to put off the evil day despite the dire state of the company," said the Crown's junior prosecution counsel, Mr Gary McCrudden, when summing up last week.

The court heard one depositor had invested £44,060 after this meeting. Another invested £15,000.

Mr Ross also faced 35 charges of false accounting. These related to statements of accounts dated December 31st, 1983, which were posted to depositors. "This sending out of statements of accounts was calculated to keep things calm and by doing so to encourage people to keep their money where it was, and that there wasn't a sudden clamour to remove their money," Mr McCrudden alleged.

Referring to the false accounting charges when introducing his case, the Crown's chief prosecutor, Mr John Creaney QC, alleged: "In essence, the criminality is the representation to these investors that their investment was safe."

Mr Ross denied all the charges. His defence argued there was no evidence to prove IIL was insolvent in this period. Senior defence counsel, Mr Arthur Harvey QC, also said Mr Ross had ceased to be controller of IIL by late 1983 as he was spending more and more time in the US, developing its business there. Mr Ross claimed Mr Murray and IIL's accountant, Ms Nuala Hussey, had taken control of the firm.

Under cross-examination, Mr Ross claimed he had given 40 per cent of IIL's ownership to Mr Murray in 1983 as recognition of his increasing role in managing the firm. Mr Murray paid no consideration for this, Mr Ross claimed. He also claimed he planned to give another 40 per cent to Mr Murray in March 1984.

But this never happened because, in February 1984, Mr Ross signed off his ownership of IIL and power of attorney to one of its directors, Mr Ronnie Vincent, an accountant from the Isle of Man. This occurred when Mr Vincent and three IIL brokers visited Mr Ross to inform him - for the first time, Mr Ross claimed - of the firm's financial difficulties.

Mr Ross claimed he understood there to be a "temporary cash-flow glitch" and claimed the transfer of ownership was carried out to assist Mr Vincent with a viability plan. Again, no consideration was paid.

The prosecution alleged Mr Ross's moves to give control of the firm to Mr Murray and Mr Vincent without consideration - and his decision to stay in America as the financial crisis deepened - indicated Mr Ross was seeking to "distance" himself from IIL. Defence counsel rejected this, alleging that no one other than Mr Ross had responsibility for its US business.

The Crown's allegation that IIL was insolvent by December 14th, 1983, was central to its case. Mr Justice Gillen told jury members to acquit Mr Ross if they believed IIL was not insolvent at this time. He also told jurors to acquit Mr Ross if they felt the firm was insolvent, but considered Mr Ross to be unaware of this at the time.

The Crown relied heavily on an "approximate state of affairs" document produced in April 1984 by a Gibraltar accountant, Mr Timothy Revill, who had been approached by Mr Vincent to audit IIL. Mr Revill was IIL's provisional auditor.

Mr Revill said he discovered the company to be insolvent within days of opening the files. Unless a "financial earthquake" had taken place, he said, IIL had been insolvent in December 1983. He said the firm was unable to meet its day-to-day liabilities and unable to meet its obligations to depositors.

Describing its accounts as being in a "complete shambles" with "boxes and boxes of selected records in no particular order", Mr Revill said IIL had £1.86 million available to creditors, but they were owed £7.33 million.

Under cross-examination, Mr Galliano concurred with this. He claimed IIL had "negligible if not nil" income sources and suggested that investors were probably paid out of a "general fund" which might have been made up of funds coming in from new investors.