A hasty attempt to secure the extradition of fugitive solicitor Michael Lynn could backfire and lead to him escaping a successful prosecution, according to informed legal sources.
This follows discussion during the week of the steps being taken to find Mr Lynn, who last month failed to turn up to High Court proceedings concerning his property dealings. The High Court has issued a warrant for his arrest, but this is to force him to engage with the civil proceedings, not to answer criminal charges, which do not exist at the moment.
Mr Lynn was stopped at an airport in New Jersey in the US just over a week ago, but was released because there is no extradition warrant out for him.
Last week Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy said the force had received complaints about Mr Lynn and was gathering evidence in order to prepare a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
If criminal charges are brought, then his extradition could be sought from whatever country he was residing in or he could be held in a country he was visiting. However, if his return to Ireland was sought without a well-grounded extradition request, he could evade extradition altogether, or successfully fight any prosecution that would be brought, according to legal sources.
In extradition law, there is a rule stating that a person can only be tried for the crime specified on the extradition request. If the evidence has not been thoroughly assembled to back any charge or charges that might be brought, and the charges specified, then the extradition or prosecution could fail.
Mr Lynn has not been charged with fraud or any crime to date, so he remains innocent in the eyes of the law.
However, many lawyers remember the case of Robert Trimbole, an Australian businessman wanted for fraud in Australia who fled to Ireland.
He was arrested under the Offences Against the State Act while the Garda was awaiting extradition papers. Later in court the Garda claimed his arrest was due to the fact that he was carrying a gun, which he denied.
Mr Trimbole was defended by Paddy MacEntee SC, and the judge in the case, Mr Justice Egan, did not accept the evidence of the Garda concerning the gun and freed Mr Trimbole.
Those interested in seeing a successful prosecution of Mr Lynn, should this be justified by the evidence being assembled against him, are anxious to ensure something similar to the Trimbole affair does not happen again.
One other way Mr Lynn could avoid extradition is by buying citizenship from a country that does not extradite its own citizens.
These include the US, Germany and Brazil. Train robber Ronnie Biggs avoided extradition from Brazil when he became the father of a Brazilian child, thus qualifying for protection.
Meanwhile, The Irish Times has learned that Thomas Byrne, the other solicitor against whom the Law Society had taken proceedings and who owes substantial amounts of money to financial institutions is co-operating fully with the inquiries under way.