THE PRESIDENT of the High Court has been told there are “legal and commercial difficulties” in providing him with information about bonuses paid to bank officials who sanctioned multimillion euro loans to struck-off solicitors Michael Lynn and Thomas Byrne.
Mr Justice Richard Johnson, who first sought such information more than a year ago and has repeated his request several times, was told yesterday by Peter Bredin, representing Bank of Scotland Ireland, that the bank believed there were “legal and commercial difficulties” in providing the information sought.
Remarking that he did not expect otherwise, the judge said: “I take it the reasons were that revealing the truth can be very often difficult and embarrassing for bankers.”
When Mr Bredin responded he believed it had to do with data protection, Mr Justice Johnson added: “The devil can quote scripture for his own purposes.”
Earlier, the judge made a declaration on consent that the ownership of Mr Byrne’s parents’ home should be transferred to his mother.
Mr Justice Johnson was told all parties making claims on the house at Walkinstown Drive were consenting to a declaration being made that ownership of it had been held in trust for Philomena Byrne (81), who is in a nursing home and needs the funds from the house to pay for her care.
Ownership of the house had been in dispute between Ms Byrne, who is a ward of court, and her son’s former biggest client, property developer John Kelly, who said he had bought and paid for it.
Following evidence given in court last week by Mr Byrne and Mr Kelly relating to the application by Mr Byrne’s mother, the case was adjourned to yesterday when the court heard Mr Kelly’s side was consenting to the declarations, as were a number of banks who had issued loans on the basis of the house being security.
A separate application by Mr Kelly to have Mr Byrne committed to jail for contempt of court – over his alleged failure to account for what had happened to the sale money – was deferred after Mr Kelly’s lawyers said they would be getting a forensic accountant to examine the matter.
Further outstanding proceedings over various business dealings between Mr Kelly and Mr Byrne are still to be heard.
Last week, Mr Byrne broke down as he told how his mother’s family home had been used as collateral in some of his multi-million euro dealings. Mr Byrne, who owes more than €40 million to banks and who has been struck off the solicitors’ roll, had been ordered by the court to explain his involvement in the sale of his parents’ home.
Asked if he had executed the sale deed in relation to the house, Mr Byrne said he could not answer questions “on the basis of legal advice that I might incriminate myself”. He also declined, on legal advice, to say if he had derived any benefit from the sale of the house.