A man was yesterday convicted in London of masterminding a sophisticated multi-million dollar international swindle by posing as a Bank of Ireland director. Anthony Passmore (52) convinced businessmen from around the world to hand him hundreds of thousands of dollars and pounds in cash by impersonating Bank of Ireland director Mr Anthony Barry.

But the businessmen never received a penny as they were slowly "drained dry" of cash. Police believe Passmore conned ten people out of a total of more than £2 million.

During the trial the jury was told how the victims included an international businessman and his backers, who alone handed over £750,000 in cash to the con-men posing as Bank of Ireland directors.

Mr Lee handed over the money at a series of meetings with Passmore and others at hotels and conference centres in London, New York and Hong Kong over a period from November 1996 to July 1997.

Mr Lee made a total of 16 payments to the con-men, all in cash totalling £750,000, which he was told represented charges from the Bank of Ireland and various other financial institutions.

Passmore admitted being in Hong Kong and in New York on dates when Mr Lee met the bogus Mr Barry, but claimed it was a case of mistaken identity. Mr Lee and his backers eventually contacted real Bank of Ireland officials in Dublin and their worst fears were confirmed. The cover-up was complete because the victims were discouraged from contacting the authorities because of the nature of the hoax deal. Witnesses from around the world flew into London to give evidence at the trial.