CONVICTED IRISH fraudster John Traynor failed to appear at a court in Amsterdam yesterday as judges were asked to hand him over to the British authorities on the foot of an extradition warrant.
Traynor (62), described as being on the run for many years from the British authorities, has a heart condition, the court was told. No reason was given for his non-appearance. He has been held on a remand since his arrest.
Traynor was arrested in the Amstelveen area of the Dutch capital on August 24th. The three-judge extradition court was told that he had been living in the Netherlands for the past 14 years without any residency papers but that his son was legally resident here.
Traynor, who ran garages in Dublin in the 1980s and 1990s, had been on the run from a British prison since November 1992, the court heard. He was serving seven years for fraud and receiving bearer bonds worth at the time an estimated Ir£4 million, according to the extradition documents. The court ordered that he remain in jail and said a verdict would be delivered on October 12th.
Traynor came to the Irish public’s attention in 1996 when he applied to the High Court for an injunction preventing murdered journalist Veronica Guerin from alleging he was a drug dealer.
He was granted the injunction after claiming her planned article would put his life at risk. The court action started just before her murder. She was dead by the time the injunction was granted.
Yesterday the Dutch public prosecutor told the hearing that all the requirements needed for Traynor’s handover to the British authorities had been fulfilled, the documents were in order and fulfilled the conditions of the European extradition agreement.
Part of a written statement by Traynor translated into Dutch was read out by the presiding judge:
“I did not return to jail after home leave, I have lived 14 years in the Netherlands, I was never registered here but my son was. I am not in good physical condition, I have heart problems.”
Asked if ill-health had prevented him from appearing for the extradition hearing, his lawyer said: “I have not heard that, no bad reports.” Contesting extradition, she argued a number of technical points and challenged the length of time which had elapsed since his conviction.