Mr Unicomb, who was accused this month by a Supreme Court judge of abusing the trust of another client and leading them into bad transactions for his own purposes, is being pursued in court by the dead man's widow.

Suzanne Cairns, 47, of Gillieston Heights, said her husband, Peter, had been unable to exercise normal judgement during his final months because of intense pain and strong medication he was taking for his terminal bowel cancer.

His judgement was so impaired that he paid thousands of dollars to notorious Rutherford cancer con-man Paul Perrett for alleged treatments.

Three months before his death in March 2005 from complications related to his cancer, Mr Cairns borrowed $200,000 from a high-interest lender and authorised payment of funds to Mr Unicomb's trust account.

The three-month loan from Galadriel Lothlorien, a finance company associated with Pamela Reading of Toronto, was not repaid in time and reverted to punitive interest rates.

Mrs Cairns said she had to sell properties to raise $377,000 to pay out the loan in 2006.

According to Mrs Cairns, she had misgivings about dealings her husband had during 2003 and 2004 with Mr Unicomb and his Sydney-based partner Glenn Arthur Freeman, who was promoting a variety of property investments.

Some of Mr Cairns's investments with Mr Freeman had turned sour, she said, and a large sum of money was lost. She blamed Mr Unicomb for introducing her husband to Mr Freeman.

Mr Freeman went bankrupt earlier this year, admitting to $19 million in debts.

Mr Unicomb has conceded that many of his clients lost money in projects promoted by Mr Freeman.

He and his long-time friend and business partner Warren Turner have also stated in affidavits that they were Mr Freeman's partners for a time, with an agreement to share profits in Mr Freeman's projects.

Mr Unicomb has sworn an affidavit stating that the $200,000 Mr Cairns borrowed just before his death went to Warren Turner in an attempt to secure a property in South Australia.

"This was a goodwill gesture by Peter Cairns made with his full knowledge of the risks this involved and made with the intention of assisting the recovery of previously lost investments that he had made with Mr Freeman," Mr Unicomb wrote.

But Mr Turner told The Herald he did not receive the money, although he agreed it was used for the South Australian property venture. The funds represented Michael Unicomb's share of the investment, Mr Turner said.

"It was a partnership and I got my share of the money from my own sources. I had no knowledge of where Michael obtained his finance," Mr Turner said.

Asked why Mr Cairns would have borrowed the money under very unfavourable terms to give to his accountant, Mr Unicomb said it was a gift to repay an old favour.

He said he gave Mr Cairns more than $40,000 in about 1989 when Mr Cairns was depressed and broke and that Mr Cairns chose to repay the favour by giving Mr Unicomb $150,000 of the money he borrowed from Galadriel Lothlorien in December 2004 just three months before he died to help Mr Unicomb with a struggling real estate project.

He and Mr Cairns were the only two people who knew about the reciprocal gifts, he said.

Mr Unicomb said he didn't think Mr Cairns was so close to death at the time he "reluctantly" accepted the $150,000.

"I witnessed the documents only because I knew that if I didn't he would simply get somebody else to do it. What should I have done? Refuse to accept the money?" Mr Unicomb asked.

He also said that any money he might have made from the South Australian real estate venture into which Mr Cairns's funds were placed would have been used to repay Mr Cairns and other former clients who had been left out of pocket because of bad deals with Mr Freeman. The venture, however, failed.

Mrs Cairns rejected Mr Unicomb's explanation, saying her husband's decision to borrow $200,000 from a high-interest lender at a time when he was heavily medicated was something no sensible financial adviser should have permitted, especially when the adviser was a beneficiary of the loan.

Mr Unicomb said he felt very bad about the situation into which his old friend and client's widow and three young sons had been placed.

He said he had a "covenant" with Peter Cairns to repay the gift.

He said he intended to do this.

"It could have been fixed up a long time ago if the legal actions hadn't made it so difficult," he said.

Mrs Cairns said she found it hard to believe that Mr Unicomb had any intention of repairing the situation.