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. The purchase price was to be € 1,150,000.
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 to various financial institutions and others.
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 over €1 million over claims made by clients of the former solicitor.
More than €900,000 was transferred from Mr Lynn’s client accounts to the Society last October by order of the High Court.
Paul Anthony McDermott, for the society, said Mr Lynn had planned to buy the Mayo property but it never went any further than payment of the deposit to the vendor’s auctioneer. The deposit had remained with the auctioneer since and the vendor was not making any claim to the money, counsel said.
Counsel also said the society had served notice of its application on Mr Lynn.
The High Court had last March ruled that Mr Lynn can be notified of legal proceedings involving a bank by the placing of newspaper ads in Hungary and Portugal, two of the countries where he is believed to have been living since he fled.
Mr Justice Kearns said he would make the order sought.