THE SOLICITORS' Disciplinary Tribunal has recommended unprecedented fines totalling €2 million against solicitor Michael Lynn and has said he should be struck off. The recommendations will now be brought by the Law Society to the High Court, which will make the final decision on the matter.
The case may be heard in the coming weeks. It has been estimated that Mr Lynn, whose whereabouts are unknown, may owe a number of banks more than €80 million. Previously, the largest fines recommended by the tribunal had been €50,000 against solicitors Henry Colley and Colm Carroll earlier this year.
The tribunal found against Mr Lynn on more than 50 charges brought by the Law Society.
Tribunal chairman Frank Daly said Mr Lynn was "clearly someone who does not deserve to be a member of the legal profession".
He said the tribunal had heard charges of a "series of serious offences", including double and triple undertakings made to institutions from whom Mr Lynn had drawn down loans.
Mr Lynn had caused hardship and distress to people trying to go about their business, and financial loss to people and institutions, he said. Mr Lynn was not present or represented at the hearing and the allegations were not rebutted, Mr Daly noted.
He said solicitors' undertakings were an important part of the property transaction system. Mr Lynn had "ruthlessly used the system to his own fraudulent advantage", but the fact that the system had been "abused so gravely by Mr Lynn should not be taken as an indication or proof that the system of undertakings as a whole is defective. It is not."
Mr Lynn, he said, had acted in a disgraceful fashion. He awarded the costs of the hearing against Mr Lynn and recommended to the High Court that the papers in the case be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
John Elliot, director of regulation of the Law Society, told the tribunal in an affidavit that Mr Lynn appeared to have perpetrated "an extensive fraud on a number of clients and also on a number of financial institutions". He had apparently fled the jurisdiction and an arrest warrant had been issued.
"It is likely to take a significant period of time before the full extent of the fraud becomes clear. It will also take a significant period of time before the full extent of the exposure of the Solicitors' Compensation Fund become clear."
Shane Murphy SC, for the Law Society, said the case was not one of random conduct but of "systematic dishonesty". Law Society solicitor Mary Fenelon said: "The confidence of the public in the profession would be eroded if [ Mr Lynn] remained on the roll of solicitors."