Fugitive former solicitor Michael Lynn will be extradited to Ireland 'imminently' following a ruling in a Brazilian court.

Brazil’s supreme court finally cleared the way for his extradition this evening.

The decision comes eight years after Lynn first left Ireland and more than 28 months after he was arrested near his beach resident in the Brazilian city of Recife.

Lynn first failed to attend a hearing at the High Court in Dublin in 2007.

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When he left Ireland, he had debts of €80 million and his company was said to have 148 properties, 154 bank accounts and assets worth more than €50 million.

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He arrived in Brazil in 2012 and lived in a villa near a beach while teaching English to the locals, joined a country club and dabbled in the property market.

He was arrested in a shopping centre near his home in August 2013 by Brazilian federal police, acting on behalf of Interpol.

Originally from Crossmolina, Co Mayo, Mr Lynn used the birth of his son with his wife Brid to secure a permanent Brazilian visa in June 2012 because the child was born there.

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Having practised on Dublin's Capel Street, Mr Lynn was struck off more than seven years ago.

While there is no extradition treaty between Brazil and Ireland, a temporary bilateral agreement was struck, meaning Mr Lynn can be extradited - and that if he is convicted and jailed here his time served in a Brazilian prison will be discounted.

Last month, it emerged that the amount paid out in claims by the Law Society to compensate clients for solicitors who default rose 29pc to €3.67m in 2014.

The most high-profile case in recent years was that of Mr Lynn, who cost his fellow professionals €2.6m in compensation paid out.

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