A jury at the Circuit Criminal Court has heard a former solicitor and property investor allegedly stole more than €27 million from seven financial institutions by taking out multiple mortgages on the same properties because he "knew how the system worked".
53-year-old Michael Lynn of Millbrook Court, Red Cross, Co Wicklow has pleaded not guilty to 21 charges involving the theft of more than €27m between 2006 and 2007.
An expanded jury of 15 people was selected for the trial which got under way this afternoon and is expected to last eight weeks.
In his opening statement, prosecuting counsel John Berry told the jury there was no room for prejudice or sympathy in this case.
He said they will have heard that Mr Lynn was a solicitor and perhaps they may have had a bad experience with solicitors in the past because "lawyers don't necessarily have the best reputation".
However he said that could not influence the case nor could the fact that the charges involved allegation of theft against banks.
He said perhaps many in society think the banks got off lightly around that time and had been bailed out by the public and in more recent times had not been "overly burdened with humility or gratitude".
However, he said that could not feature in the case and any prejudice or sympathy had to be left outside the door.
He said the case involved allegations of stealing which meant taking something without the owner's consent.
Mr Berry said consent obtained by deception was not consent. He said people may think the banks did things they should not have done or had been foolish, but just because people place themselves in a vulnerable position it did not mean they can be taken advantage of.
Mr Berry said it was no excuse to take a phone from an unlocked car or steal from a house that did not have an alarm.
He said Mr Lynn was an experienced solicitor and property investor and knew how the market worked.
The jury was told the evidence in this case would show that false documents were used to obtain loans. Mr Berry explained that in the process of a loan application, banks would release funds on receipt of a solicitor's undertaking which was a solemn promise to use the money to buy a particular property.
Such undertakings were given by a solicitor in Mr Lynn's firm, Mr Berry told the jury, adding they were "not talking about small time deception here".
He said the prosecution would present evidence to show that Mr Lynn had taken out multiple mortgages on the same properties from a number of banks through alleged deception.
He said each of the financial institutions did not know he was approaching multiple banks and in lending the money believed they had security over the loans.
"Essentially he told the banks you are the only bank I'm borrowing from so you will have security," Mr Berry said.
The jury was told that Mr Lynn accepts that he obtained the loans and that the money was given to him. He denies the charges.
Mr Berry said documents used to support the loan applications such as statement of affairs contained "errors, oversights, omissions and inflation" and in some cases were not from the accountants they were purporting to come from.
Mr Lynn is charged with stealing amounts totalling more than €27m from financial institutions over a nine-month period between 2006 and 2007. including Bank Of Ireland Mortgages Ltd., Danske Bank t/a National Irish Bank, Irish Life and Permanent t/a PTSB, Ulster Bank, ACC Bank plc, Bank of Scotland Ireland and Irish Nationwide Building Society.
The trial before Judge Martin Nolan continues tomorrow.
