A DISCIPLINARY tribunal has ordered a Dublin solicitor who dishonestly borrowed almost €57 million from a number of financial institutions be fined €1 million and removed from the solicitors' register.
Thomas Byrne, whose practice at Walkinstown Road, Dublin, has been closed by the Law Society, appeared before the Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal yesterday to face a total of 64 charges.
The charges included forging a signature of a colleague on undertakings furnished to Irish Nationwide and EBS Building Societies to receive loans, abandoning his practice last October in breach of his legal obligations to his clients and dishonestly removing files from his office.
The Law Society previously ordered an investigation of Mr Byrne's accounts by forensic accountants from KPMG.
A representative from KPMG told the three-man tribunal that they had uncovered borrowings of almost €57 million in Mr Byrne's accounts relating to four properties.
The money was dishonestly obtained from six financial institutions, he said. Some €25 million of this money had been received by Mr Byrne from IIB Homeloans and a further €13.5 million was provided by EBS. None of the money had been repaid, the tribunal heard.
The KPMG representative said they were able to account for €8.6 million from Mr Byrne's accounts and another €14 million that moved through the accounts of a client.
The investigation was unable to trace the remainder of the balance, which was some €34 million.
Counsel for Mr Byrne, Seán O'Siochain, did not rebut any of the charges, but said Mr Byrne had been heavily influenced by one of his major clients.
"An albatross which hung around his neck for years was this particular client," Mr O'Siochain said. The Law Society's representative, Shane Murphy SC, said there was evidence of an overwhelming and systematic breach of trust, which had serious implications for the third parties involved.
He added that Mr Byrne's actions could have had serious implications for the standing of the legal profession. Tribunal chairman Frank Daly said Mr Byrne was guilty of professional misconduct in regard to each of the applications taken against him both individually and cumulatively.
"Clearly he is not someone who should be a member of the legal profession," Mr Daly said before ordering that Mr Byrne pay a €1 million penalty and costs to the Law Society.
He also recommended that Mr Byrne's name be struck from the solicitors' register
