The Cork-born financier, Finbarr Ross (55), has been informed by the Northern Ireland Prison Service that it will not take into account the 14 months he spent in prison in the United States.

The decision means Ross, who two weeks ago was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison, will not be eligible for release until March 2001.

He is to seek a judicial review of the decision and will also seek bail pending his appeal of his conviction. If the time spent in prison in the US was taken into account, he would be released immediately.

Ross was jailed by Belfast Crown Court after being found guilty of three charges that he sought and obtained funds for International Investments Limited at a meeting in Belfast on December 15th 1983 when he knew the company was insolvent. An earlier trial had failed to reach a verdict.

Ross was arrested by the US authorities in March 1998 near Muskogee, Oklahoma, and was held in prison there while contesting his extradition. He was extradited to Northern Ireland in May 1999, where he was imprisoned until February 2000.

He has been told he will only receive credit for the time spent in prison in Northern Ireland prior to his conviction. With remission, his 30-month sentence is reduced to 15 months. When the period spent in jail on remand in Northern Ireland is taken into account, he is due for release in March 2001.

Ross has been moved from Maghaberry Prison, Co Antrim, to the more remote Magilligan Prison outside Limavaddy, Co Derry.

International Investments Limited collapsed in 1984 with debts of more than £7 million sterling (€11.7 million).