The Irish investment broker Mr Tony Taylor, who disappeared in August 1996, is expected to drop his contest against extradition from Britain and return to Ireland within weeks.

In an interview with The Sunday Business Post from prison in England, Mr Taylor said he intended to return to the Republic to clear his name. He told the paper he did not abscond with clients' money but left the state for a holiday with his wife.

Mr Taylor and his wife, Shirley, left their home in Dublin suddenly three years ago around the time his investment business collapsed.

His whereabouts remained unknown until last August when Mr Taylor was arrested in Eastbourne, East Sussex, on foot of 15 extradition warrants relating to charges of fraudulent conversion of money entrusted to him by clients of his investment business. The warrants concern the Society of St Vincent de Paul and other named investors and the total involved is approximately £620,000 (#849,670).

Mr Taylor was one of the most prominent members of Dublin's investment community for many years and had established Taylor Asset Management (TAM) in Clyde Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin, in the 1980s.

TAM was one of the biggest private managers of client funds outside the major financial institutions, and had substantial business in the Republic and Britain. The firm also had an exclusive agreement to sell products for one of the world's leading fund managers, Fidelity, since 1989, which helped attract many high net worth individuals.