The High Court has made an order striking the name of solicitor Elio Malocco off the Roll of Solicitors.
The application to strike off Mr Malocco's name was made by the Law Society which in October is to bring a claim against him for €721,000 as restitution for monies which it has paid out to his former clients.
The President of the High Court, Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan, made the striking off order yesterday. In a judgment last February on proceedings brought by Mr Malocco, the Supreme Court refused an order preventing the society from applying for a court order striking Mr Malocco's name off the Roll of Solicitors following a finding by the society's disciplinary tribunal of February 2000 that Mr Malocco was guilty of misconduct.
The Supreme Court also dismissed Mr Malocco's application to secure access to some €55,000 in bank accounts in his name. It noted the society's compensation fund had paid out €721,811 as losses accepted by the society as due to dishonesty on Mr Malocco's part. Giving the background to the Supreme Court appeal, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns said Mr Malocco enrolled as a solicitor in 1977 and practised in Dublin in partnership with Mr Conor Killeen, under the style "Malocco and Killeen".
In September 1991, the Law Society had received a complaint about the firm from Irish Press Newspapers, who were clients of the firm.
The society investigated and this led to court orders freezing payments, except with the leave of the High Court, out of any bank accounts of the two solicitors or their firm, and the suspension of the practising certificates of both solicitors.
Mr Justice Kearns noted that Mr Malocco fled Ireland in 1991 and did not return until 1993. He was convicted in March 1993 of six counts of dishonesty in relation to his practice as a solicitor and received a five-year sentence. He lost an appeal against conviction in 1996 and remained in custody until 1998.
The Law Society's disciplinary tribunal made findings of misconduct against him in February 2000. He then took a judicial review challenge to the procedures of the tribunal which was dismissed by the High Court in October 2002. In February 2003, the motion to strike his name again came before the High Court. Mr Malocco made various submissions but in July 2003 the High Court ruled against him.