A garda has given evidence that former solicitor Thomas Byrne never passed on a €1.87m cheque intended to pay off a loan from a property deal he and two colleagues were involved in.
Brian Whelan said Mr Byrne acted as their solicitor for the purchase and refinancing of a Dorset Street apartment block in Dublin city centre.
Mr Whelan told the jury he discovered a mortgage had not been paid off with the cheque as intended after he received a letter from his bank, Permanent TSB.
The trial also heard evidence that properties owned by two other property dealer landlords, Matt and Terry Connors, were transferred into Mr Byrne's name without their knowledge.
Matt Connors said the properties had been transferred using forged signatures without his knowledge.
The 47-year-old former solicitor denies 51 counts of theft and fraud totalling €51.8m between 2004 and 2007.
It is alleged he transferred clients' properties into his name and then used the property as collateral for bank loans.
Mr Whelan told Remy Farrell SC, prosecuting, that he knew Mr Byrne since 1993 when the solicitor acted for him in a property deal.
In 2006 he decided along with fellow gardaí Enda Mulryan and Brian Marr to buy an apartment complex on Dorset Street for €2.2m.
They secured a mortgage with Permanent TSB for €1.87m and employed Mr Byrne to close the deal.
Mr Whelan said that in May 2007 they decided to refinance the property as values had gone up and rates had gone down.
Mr Byrne, who was still acting for the men, entered into a solicitor's undertaking to use the refinancing cheque to repay the original mortgage.
Two days later, a letter to Mr Whelan from Permanent TSB stated that the original mortgage had not being repaid as agreed. He told the court that Mr Byrne never paid off the original loan.
The court also heard evidence from Matt Connors who, along with his brother Terry, owned and let properties in Dublin - some as social welfare housing.
Matt Connors gave evidence that he and his brother used Mr Byrne as their lawyer for a €1.085m deal to buy five properties.
Mr Connors said he later found out that Mr Byrne was registered as the owner of all five properties and that Mr Connors' signature had been forged on several documents relating to the transfer of the properties.
He said he never agreed to sell Mr Byrne these houses and never received any money for them from the solicitor.
Mr Connors agreed with defence counsel Damien Colgan SC that he had sold Mr Byrne two rental properties in the past and agreed to manage them for him and collect rent. However, he said that had been the extent of their deal and no further properties were involved.
Matt Connors said he first learned there was a problem when in October 2007 some of his tenants got a letter from a chartered accountant who was acting as a receiver for Anglo Irish Bank.
The letters stated that Mr Byrne had been the owner of the properties and that the accountants were now collecting the rent on behalf of the bank who had taken over the properties.
The trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court continues before Judge Patrick McCartan and a jury of seven men and five women.
