Fugitive solicitor back in jail after court appearance

Fugitive solicitor Michael Lynn is back in a high-security Brazilian jail after a court appearance related to allegations of theft and fraud in Ireland.

Mr Lynn, who was quizzed by Judge Flávia Tavares Dantos in the northeastern city of Recife, is facing €80m property fraud charges here and has been on the run since 2007.

The 44-year-old — who has been in Brazil since 2011, having lived in Portugal, Hungary, Bulgaria, and the US since fleeing Ireland — unveiled a new legal team during the hearing on Monday, having dismissed his previous team on Friday.

Mr Lynn, a Brazilian citizen, has been in prison for seven weeks.

According to the federal police in Brazil, there are 33 prison mandates lodged against Mr Lynn by the Irish Government, including accusations of theft, fraud, and the falsification of documents.

When he was arrested seven weeks ago, his name was on the Interpol Red List, which police said meant he was being sought for imprisonment.

While there is no formal extradition treaty in place between Brazil and Ireland, the nations recently reached a bilateral agreement based on reciprocity.

At the end of the hearing, Mr Lynn’s legal team made a specific request to Judge Dantos that proceedings of yesterday’s hearing not be divulged to the media, to which the judge complied under a ‘right to privacy’.

Suzan Vitorino, the court media representative, told waiting journalists that the judge, public defender, and lawyers, had questioned Mr Lynn about “the extradition process”. She was unable to divulge anything further than this, by order of the presiding judge.

Court proceedings were filmed and will be forwarded to Supreme Court judge Marco Aurélio Mello, based in the capital Brasilia, who presides over the case. He will decide Mr Lynn’s case with colleagues from the Brazilian Supreme Court.