Lynn’s former employee tells of ‘fear factor’
Legal executive says she signed documents because of ‘huge pressure’
LIZ DOYLE left her bright green patentleather handbag with her husband and took her place in the witness box.
Ms Doyle was called to testify about events that happened when she worked for former solicitor Michael Lynn, who denies 21 charges of stealing more than €27m from seven banks and building societies 17 years ago.
She was there to testify about documents she signed in the name of others. The documents were displayed by the prosecution as exhibits on monitors throughout the courtroom as Ms Doyle gave her testimony.
They are evidence of a past that has followed her for close to two decades, and one that led to her presence in court this week. After introducing Ms Doyle’s background to the jury, prosecution barrister John Berry began to display a sample of Mr Lynn’s loan applications to the court.
One piece of paperwork is a solicitor’s undertaking from October 16, 2006, which has been signed in the name of Fiona McAleenan – a solicitor working for Mr Lynn’s practice. The court has already heard that this undertaking, to register mortgages in favour of Ulster Bank, never occurred, and that as a result the bank lost millions.
Mr Lynn, 55, with an address in Arklow, Co. Wicklow, acknowledged that he received the benefit of this money. However, he denies he stole the money and has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
He claims bankers, some of whom he claims to have incentivised with cash and other benefits, conspired with him in a ‘charade’ to bypass normal lending rules.
Mr Lynn claims they did this by allowing him to provide false solicitors’ undertakings.
Pointing to the solicitor’s undertaking form provided to Ulster Bank in 2006, Mr Berry asked Ms Doyle if she recognised the document. ‘Yes,’ she replied.
He then pointed to the signature at the end of the document in the name of Fiona McAleenan. ‘Do you recognise the handwriting there?’ he asked. ‘I do,’ Ms Doyle said.
‘Do you know who signed the name Fiona McAleenan?’ Mr Berry asked. ‘I did,’ Ms Doyle replied.
This process was repeated for a sample of loan documents from different banks. In each case, Ms Doyle confirmed she signed documents in the name of Michael Lynn – as well as signing undertakings in the name of Fiona McAleenan and statements of affairs purporting to be from Mr Lynn’s accountant – Kinsella Mitchell & Associates.
Ms Doyle said she understood – from Mr Lynn – that Ms McAleenan had given permission for her name to be signed.
Ms McAleenan has previously denied this in her own evidence.
Asked why she repeatedly signed important legal papers in the names of others, knowing that it was wrong, Ms Doyle said she was ‘under huge pressure’ and was fearful of Mr Lynn, who had ‘instructed’ her to sign.
‘There was a fear factor at this stage so I followed his instruction,’ she told the jury.
Ms Doyle also told the court that other factors such as the collapse of her husband’s firm, leading to a mental breakdown on his part, had increased the pressure she was under at the time.
Recalling the time, she became upset and asked for one of several breaks that would punctuate her evidence throughout Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Mr Lynn’s legal team asked Ms Doyle about her finances, and showed that she had received finance for property purchases from some of the same bankers that financed Mr Lynn.
The jury heard that Ms Doyle, like Mr Lynn, had been in breach of loan conditions for different mortgages she had obtained from different banks on the same properties. However, the court heard that ultimately Ms Doyle had resolved this matter to the satisfaction of the banks involved.
The defence also explored Ms Doyle’s knowledge of Mr Lynn’s relationships with bankers.
Ulster Bank relationship manager Stephen McCarthy last week ‘categorically’ denied he received cash payments from Mr Lynn.
In his testimony last week, Mr McCarthy was also asked if Mr Lynn had paid for his flight from Cork to Dublin for a meeting to discuss a €3.65m loan in 2007.
‘I do not honestly think that they arranged for my flights,’ he told the court after the defence told him that it was Mr Lynn’s position that he had done so.
This week defence barrister Paul Comiskey O’Keeffe questioned Ms Doyle about the matter. He began by asking if Ms Doyle’s brother, who had worked for Mr Lynn as a driver, had collected Mr McCarthy at the airport.
‘Correct,’ she replied.
‘Did you organise his flights?’ he asked. ‘I did,’ Ms Doyle replied.
‘The practice paid for the flights?’ Mr Comiskey O’Keeffe asked. ‘That’s correct,’ she answered. Mr Comiskey O’Keeffe then went through a list of bankers, some of whom Ms Doyle recalled.
‘Do you remember Maurice Aherne of AIB?’ he asked. ‘I do,’ she answered. ‘Do you recall booking a flight for him and his daughter to Budapest?’ he asked. ‘I don’t recall that,’ she said.
She gave the same answer when asked if she remembered booking a flight to Budapest for Mr Aherne and his wife.
Mr Comiskey O’Keeffe then asked about ACC relationship manager Billy Loftus.
The court had heard a €3.75m ACC loan for Glenlion house had originated with Mr Loftus.
‘Did he arrange finance for you?’ he asked the witness.
‘He did,’ replied Ms Doyle.
‘Did you organise a trip to Portugal for Mr Loftus and his family?’ Ms Doyle was also asked. ‘I did not,’ she replied.
‘Did you organise a boat trip when he was away?’ ‘I did not,’ she said.
When asked about tickets provided to Mr Loftus, Ms Doyle said ‘possibly some GAA tickets’ had been given. Ms Doyle also confirmed she remembered Permanent TSB banker Ciarán Farrell and he had also provided finance to her.
Mr Farrell has not yet testified, but the jury heard he will do so shortly. His name featured in various documents and emails displayed to the jury on Thursday and Friday, as a succession of Permanent TSB bankers gave evidence about a €3.7m loan in 2007 that Mr Lynn is alleged to have stolen.
The jury has heard this loan application originated with Mr Farrell, who was manager at the bank’s Blanchardstown branch. On
‘Do you recognise the handwriting there?’
‘Did you organise a boat trip when he was away?’
Thursday, a solicitor with Permanent TSB’s mortgage division, Linda Redden, testified about an email she had received from Mr Farrell. The court heard he had sent the email after the bank’s legal team queried if it was appropriate for Fiona McAleenan to provide an undertaking for loans to Mr Lynn.
‘Mr Lynn has contacted me and explained his partner… is independent from him,’ his email read. ‘He would have no party to these dealings.’
On Thursday, Seán Alger, former head of the commercial division in Permanent TSB, denied the bank ‘turned a blind eye’ when Mr Lynn did not honour a condition that he pay off a previous €1.9m loan.
The court has heard Mr Lynn claims to have got Mr Farrell’s blessing to renege on this commitment as long as he kept up repayments on the outstanding loan.