A solicitor who fled Ireland to Australia six years ago has appeared in court in Perth in a last-ditch bid to avoid extradition home. Vincent Thomas O'Donoghue is wanted by gardaí for allegedly obtaining property by false pretences.

The 57-year-old began his legal battle in Australian Federal Court in 2006, claiming non-federal magistrates did not have the power to carry out inter-country extraditions. The court ruled against O'Donoghue and cleared the way for his extradition.

A Perth Magistrates court spokesman told the Sunday Tribune O'Donoghue's fight against extradition was unlikely to drag on.

"The important point to bear in mind is that Mr O'Donoghue is not appealing against the extradition order," the spokesman said. "He is fighting extradition to Ireland, and the trial began at the Perth Magistrates Court last Friday. Mr O'Donoghue has subsequently appeared in court and is due back to attend court proceedings on 26 September.

"In Mr O'Donoghue's case, we envisage a verdict in the next couple of months, or before Christmas at the latest."

If O'Donoghue was to win his case against extradition, he would then have to face problems with the Australian authorities. In January, the Australian Real Estate and Business Agents Supervisory Board (Reba) – the statutory governing body of Australian estate agents – issued a lifetime membership ban to O'Donoghue, who was declared bankrupt in Ireland in 1993.

"He made false statutory declarations, acted as a company director and charged clients when he was not entitled to do so, presented a proposal to invest in a corporate entity that was not incorporated and received loan funds that were not repaid," Reba's chairman Mark Cuomo said in January 2008.

Reba claimed that on six separate occasions, O'Donoghue raised invoices for fees and expenses on properties even though the company he worked did not hold proper management authority.

On two occasions, Reba claimed O'Donoghue instructed letters to be sent to the company's clients looking for monies he was not entitled to claim.

It also said he presented a proposal for the purchase of a 5% shareholding in a corporate entity that had not yet been incorporated.

Graham Kierath, a prominent West Australian politician, was involved in the collapse of the One World Property Group of which he and O'Donoghue were directors. Kierath said O'Donoghue was "exceptionally good" at selling real estate and putting deals together.

The Dubliner sold property in Spain before his arrival in Queensland in 2002 and later move to Western Australia.