Former financier Mr Finbarr Ross, who was extradited from the US to Northern Ireland, has appeared in court on 41 charges relating to the collapse of his company International Investments Ltd in 1984.

The special sitting of the Belfast Magistrates' Court began shortly after 5 p.m. on Saturday. Mr Ross (53), from Cork, who appeared tired after his overnight journey, was allowed to remain seated in the dock as the charges were put to him.

It took more than 40 minutes for the charges to be read - 36 charges related to alleged false accounting and a further five to the obtaining and procuring of property by deception. All charges date between 1983 and 1984.

Mr Joe Rice, solicitor, defending, said his client pleaded not guilty to all charges, adding that he did not believe Mr Ross could get a fair trial in Northern Ireland because of the publicity about the case.

IIL, a Gibraltar-registered company, failed owing 1,200 depositors and resulted in the disappearance of up to £7 million of investments in 1984.

Four hundred people from Northern Ireland - mostly pensioners - suffered losses. The court was told that the 41 charges related to the loss of about £619,000 by investors.

An RUC detective inspector accompanied Mr Ross on Saturday's flight into Belfast.

The officer later told the court he believed he could connect Mr Ross to the charges.

Legal aid was granted to Mr Ross and he was remanded in custody to appear again on Friday.

Mr Ross lived in the US for 15 years before his arrest by the FBI. He was detained for a year in Muskogee County Jail in Oklahoma awaiting his extradition to the North.

In March, the 10th circuit appeals court in Denver, Colorado, rejected an appeal against earlier court findings that Mr Ross should be extradited.

After that, Mr Ross's only hope of avoiding extradition lay in the possibility that the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, would overrule the court.

This was not expected to happen, and did not.

While in the US, Mr Ross became an ordained minister of the New Age-style Light of Christ Church, which practises "esoteric Christianity".

Many of his friends and acquaintances from the church helped pay the legal costs he incurred while fighting his extradition from the US.

Last week, the founder of the Light of Christ Church, the Rev Carol Parrish, said she was willing to travel to Belfast to testify on his behalf.

"We would like to be friends and support-persons to him in ways that are permissible," she said.

She said the Light of Christ Church had "not disciplined" Mr Ross, and the outcome of the case would not change her attitude.

The church would give Mr Ross credentials if he wanted to continue his ministry while in custody, Ms Parrish added.