CONSIDERING the Statute of the Tribunal as adopted by the Security Council under Resolution 827 (1993), and in particular Article 21 thereof;

CONSIDERING the Rules of Procedure and Evidence as adopted by the Tribunal on 11 February 1994, as subsequently amended, and in particular Rules 44 and 45 thereof;

CONSIDERING the Directive on Assignment of Defence Counsel (hereinafter "the Directive") as adopted by the Tribunal on 28 July 1994, as subsequently amended, and in particular Articles 6, 8, 10, 11(A)(ii) and 18(A)(i);

NOTING the declaration of means of Mr. Zoran Zigic (hereinafter "the accused") dated 16 April 1998 in which the accused declared that he was not employed, does not receive any family allowances or social benefits, and does not own any movable or immovable property;

CONSIDERING that after examining the declaration of means of the accused, the Registrar determined on 28 April 1998 that the accused fulfilled the requirements for assignment of counsel as foreseen by the Directive (IT/73 Rev.7);

NOTING the decision of the Registrar dated 28 April 1998, assigning Mr. Simo Tosic, attorney at law from Banja Luka, as counsel to the accused in the interests of justice;

NOTING the decision of the Registrar dated 15 February 2000, assigning Mr. Slobodan Stojanovic, attorney at law from Belgrade, as co-counsel to the accused, on the basis of Article 16(C) of the Directive (IT/73 Rev. 7);

NOTING the decision of the Registrar dated 21 August 2000 reassigning Mr. Tosic as co-counsel, and Mr. Slobodan Stojanovic as lead counsel upon the request of the accused who stated that he was not satisfied with the quality of work of Mr. Tosic in his capacity as lead counsel;

NOTING that for the above-mentioned reason, and following a further request from the lead counsel supported by the accused, on 21 August 2001, the Registrar decided to replace Mr. Tosic with Mr. Miodrag Deretic, attorney at law from Prijedor, as co-counsel to the accused;

NOTING that for the purpose of assisting the counsel with the defence of the accused, the Registrar has appointed since 28 April 1998 a total of eight staff members as legal assistants or investigators in accordance with the legal aid system of the International Tribunal;

NOTING that since 28 April 1998, for the purposes of an effective representation of the accused, substantial travel expenses have been authorized for the defence of the accused;

NOTING that the total costs of the defence of the accused including fees have accumulated to the sum of approximately US$ 1,425,683.37 since 28 April 1998;

CONSIDERING that the Directive foresees that the Registrar may withdraw the assignment of counsel or his partial remuneration and/or expenses if information establishing that the accused has sufficient means to pay for his defence has been obtained by the Registry;

CONSIDERING that according to the evidence obtained by the Registry, the accused, his family, and the persons with whom he usually resides freely dispose of movable and immovable properties which were acquired after 28 April 1998;

CONSIDERING that the lawfully obtained documentation contained in the Annex to this decision demonstrates that since 16 April 1998, the accused, his immediate family, and the persons with whom he resided before his detention, came into substantial means which have mostly been acquired by cash transfers from members of his defence team, which in turn, were diverted from their revenues as assigned defence counsel at the International Tribunal;

NOTING that the accused has been informed of the results of the financial inquiry conducted by the Registry, and has been provided with an opportunity to comment on them in front of a representative of the Registry, and that the accused has been given the opportunity to seek legal advice from his assigned counsel in relation to the matter;

CONSIDERING that the accused has filed his appellant brief, that the appeal is at a relatively advanced stage of the proceedings, and that the Registry estimates that approximately 300 counsel hours and 150 legal assistance working hours would be required for the remainder of the proceedings, and that this, including travel costs, would amount to the costs of US $ 32,000.00 for legal representation;

CONSIDERING that it is evident from the aforementioned information that the accused has sufficient means to remunerate the cost of his defence for the remainder of the appeal;

CONSIDERING that the actions of the accused and particular members of his defence team have gravely abused the system established by the International Tribunal to ensure effective legal assistance to all suspects and accused who are unable to pay for their defence;

NOTING that in accordance with Article 13 (B) of the Directive, the accused may submit a motion to the Chamber for review of the Registrar’s decision within two weeks of the date of notification;

CONSIDERING that the evidence collected by the Registry does at this stage impugn the current lead counsel of the accused, Mr. Stojanovic, but not the co-counsel of the accused, Mr. Deretic and that the Registry would therefore have no objection to Mr. Deretic continuing his representation of the accused on a non-assigned basis;

RESERVING the right to file for recovery of funds against the accused as foreseen in Article 45(F) of the Rules;

RESERVING the right to conduct further investigations in relation to the conduct of former counsel

Mr. Simo Tosic, and into the conduct of all other past and present defence team members;

DECIDES to withdraw the assignment of counsel to the accused and to discontinue the provision of legal aid to the accused.

Hans Holthuis
Registrar

Dated this 8^th day of July 2002
At The Hague
The Netherlands

Report on the financial status of the accused Zoran Zigic
2 July 2002

(…)

4. In the determination of any charge against the accused pursuant to the present Statute, the accused shall be entitled to the following minimum guarantees, in full equality:

(…)

d) to be tried in his presence, and to defend himself in person or through legal assistance of his own choosing; to be informed, if he does not have legal assistance, of this right; and to have legal assistance assigned to him, in any case where the interests of justice so require, and without payment by him in any such case if he does not have sufficient means to pay for it;

(…)

1. This report is written based upon the outcome of an inquiry of the Registry into the financial status of the accused Mr. Zoran Zigic (hereinafter: the accused), case IT-98-30/1, and his close family members. The conclusion of the financial investigation is that the accused currently has sufficient means to pay for the costs of his defence.
2. The accused was transferred to UNDU on 16-04-1998. On the same day he submitted his declaration of means stating that he was indigent, resided with his parents in a house in very bad condition, and had no income. The accused requested the assignment of counsel. At the time, the Registrar verified the declaration of means of the accused and found no indication that it was false, and consequently assigned Mr. Simo Tosic, attorney at law from Banja Luka, on 28-04-1998, to the accused as requested. Between April 1998 and June 2002, the accused has not provided the Registry with any further information on his financial status.
3. Motivated by indications that the accused and his family were substantially better of than when the accused declared himself indigent, the Registry verified the financial status of the accused again in June 2002. The Registry’s financial inquiry revealed that since the time he was granted legal aid in April 1998, the accused and close family members of his have obtained substantial assets. The accused has also made expenditures, which have not been reported to the Registrar as income first. The total estimated value of both the current assets and the previous expenditures of the accused equals 178,280.49 €.
4. The inquiry revealed that the accused has obtained and/or invested in the following:

• An apartment in Zrenjanin, FRY, purchased 16-11-1998, with an estimated value of 20,116.00 €
• An apartment in Zrenjanin, FRY, purchased 12-04-2000, with an estimated value of 37,580.00 €
• A business named "Progres" in Hetin, FRY, purchased 21-07-2001, with an estimated value of 7,500.00 €
• The renovation of his parents’ house in Prijedor, BiH during 1998-1999, the total estimated value of the house is now 50,000.00 €, prior to renovation approximately 15,000.00 €
• Three vehicles, a Mercedes Benz 200, a Golf Mark III and a Mazda 121 SDN, most likely all purchased in 1999. The current estimated value of the three cars is 10,000.00 €
• Three laptop computers, the most recent one a Notebook Compaq Presario 1800T, current estimated value 1,000.00 €
• Travel costs incurred by the accused’s family members for travel to The Hague since 1999, estimated at $ 18,225.00 (19,409.63 €)
• Expenditures for consumables at the grocery store accessible to detainees at the UNDU in the amount of 33,175.20 €.

5. The financial inquiry has revealed that the accused and his close family members have currently assets at their disposal with a total value of at least 126,196.00 €.
6. As to the sources of the accused’s financial position, the evidence shows that the main source of funds has been a number of members of his past defence team, but also one member of his present defence counsel team. Our records indicate that there were income sources for small amounts, such as transfers from the accused’s wife Sanja Zigic, by the Republika Srpska BiH government, orthodox priests, personal friends, Serb Diaspora associations, and finally the standard daily allowance received from the Registry by all detainees while in detention at UNDU.
7. Altogether the accused has received the total amount of at least 178,280.49 € from members of his defence counsel team. Part of this amount has been transferred to his personal account at UNDU and part has been given to his family members, and another part has been invested directly by certain defence team members in the purchase of real estate or vehicles. Furthermore the amount of 5,810.91 € was deposited into his personal account by his wife. The amount of 16,214.41 € was deposited by others as donations to the accused.
8. Our investigation further revealed that the former lead counsel of the accused has, between 24-04-1998 and approximately 21-08-2000, shortly after he was replaced as lead counsel, organized a fee-splitting scheme between the defence team and the accused. As an example, in its report the Registry submits evidence that at least 80% of the fees of the previously assigned investigators Mr. Svetozar Davidovic and Mr. Radovan Stanic were shared with the accused. Moreover, Mr. Tosic has requested the assignment of two persons, Ms. Jadranka Ivanovic and Ms. Jasminka Jovisevic. For the invoices that were submitted on behalf of them, the Registry paid the amount of 81,679.65 €. However these persons never actually performed any work for the defence, they were in fact inactive investigators. The entire amount obtained was for the purpose of fee-splitting.
9. The Registry assumes that the amounts revealed by this report only uncover part of the amounts obtained by the accused and his family members through fee-splitting. The Registry will remain seised of the matter.