The High Court has given a Dublin solicitor, whose assets have been frozen due to concern about his property dealings, a further two weeks to draw up an affidavit and a list of the properties that he owns.
Two weeks ago the Law Society applied successfully to the High Court to have the assets of 39-year-old Michael Lynn, of legal firm Capel Law, frozen.
This morning, the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Richard Johnson, heard that Mr Lynn had changed solicitors since last week's hearing. The court heard Mr Lynn had had a long consultation with his new solicitor since then and that they had agreed to appoint a forensic accountant to assist in their work.
But Mr Lynn's counsel, Paul Burns SC, said that while work on the list of properties that Mr Lynn had an involvement in was continuing, it was not complete. He said Mr Lynn would also need access to his client files, seized by the Law Society, in order to complete the work.
Mr Burns also reiterated that his client wished to stress that he wanted to co-operate with the Law Society. He applied for a two-week adjournment, which was granted by the High Court President, on the basis that Mr Lynn's undertaking to not work as a solicitor without court permission in the meantime still stood.
The court also heard applications from a number of banks, seeking leave to apply to the Law Society for the repayment of loans given to Mr Lynn by them. The banks included Bank of Scotland Ireland, IIB, First Active, ACC and AIB.
Mr Lynn's assets have been frozen by the Law Society. Mr Justice Johnson said he would hear the applications on Thursday morning. He also urged all the banks to provide a list of the loans they have given to Mr Lynn to the Law Society, to help speed up the enquiries.
A Law Society investigation in September into Mr Lynn's practices unearthed what was termed 'acts of dishonesty' in relation to his use of clients' money. It is alleged that he was using drafts, drawn on clients' accounts, to finance personal transactions.
Last week the court heard that Mr Lynn and his companies owned 105 properties in several countries. The court also heard that he had drawn down more than €26m in loans from a range of banks since January and had bought around 40 properties.
It was also alleged that he had taken out more than one mortgage on a number of properties with different banks.
