Gardai to bring fugitive laywer back from Brazil
GARDAI are preparing to travel to Brazil within weeks to bring the fugitive solicitor Michael Lynn back to Ireland where he faces trial for an alleged mortgage fraud.
Two detectives with An Garda fraud squad have been selected to fly to Brazil to escort the former solicitor back to Ireland. Officials with the Department of Justice may also travel with them.
Mr Lynn was arrested in Brazil in 2013 and has been held in a high security prison there for three years while he challenged his extradition back to Ireland.
One of the last legal avenues was exhausted last month when Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled that an earlier court decision to extradite him should go ahead as planned.
The Garda fraud unit, now known as the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau, is liaising with Brazil’s justice ministry on the logistics of his transfer to Ireland.
At least two detectives are expected to fly out to Rio in the next fortnight. Michael Lynn is expected to be handed over to detectives following a formal procedure to identify him.
Michael Lynn’s wife, Brid Murphy, is expected to return to Ireland with the couple’s two children, the youngest of whom was born in the country, granting the couple the right to residency there.
Mr Lynn, a solicitor from Crossmolina, Co Mayo, built up a successful property business during the boom. After the market turned, his business collapsed with alleged debts of €80m owed to several financial institutions.
Mr Lynn left the country in 2007.
He was due to attend a High Court hearing in Dublin that year but he failed to show.