STRUCK-OFF solicitor Thomas Byrne was being questioned by gardaí last night as part of their inquiry into alleged deception and theft from financial institutions.
Mr Byrne, who ran a practice in Walkinstown, west Dublin, until he was struck off by the Law Society in 2007, has already admitted in civil actions before the courts that he got monies from banks under false pretences.
He took out multiple mortgages from different banks on the same properties and also secured or helped to secure loans that were not used for the purpose stated on the loan application.
Mr Byrne has been at the centre of a series of civil court cases. In some of the cases it emerged that he had registered properties in his own name owned by his clients.
He then secured mortgages against those properties. In some cases the owners had no idea what Mr Byrne had done until after he had defaulted on the fraudulent loans and the legitimate owners of the properties were contacted by the banks.
In 2008 a solicitors’ disciplinary tribunal was told that borrowings of almost €57 million had been uncovered in Byrne’s accounts.
In June the Law Society criticised as “incomprehensible” the length of time it had taken the Garda to investigate complaints against two Dublin solicitors, Mr Byrne and Michael Lynn, both of whom were struck off almost four years ago.
A Garda spokesman said yesterday that members of the bureau of fraud investigation examining allegations of deception and theft from several financial institutions and individuals arrested a man in his 40s in the Dublin area.
He was detained under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act at Irishtown Garda station where he was still being held last night.
