(Answer to question taken at May 29 State Dept. briefing) (340)
Following is a question on fee-splitting practices at the United
Nations
war crimes tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda taken
at the
regular State Department daily briefing May 29; an answer was posted
the
next day:
(begin text)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
May 30, 2002
Taken Question from May 29, 2002 Briefing
Fee Splitting in UN Tribunals
Question: Apparently The Hague tribunal is
investigating reports that the
lawyers of some of the war crimes suspects in
Yugoslavia have received
demands today that parts of their fees paid by the
UN and partly by the
United States go to their own clients. Have you
heard anything about
those reports, and do you have anything?
Answer: The International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia
and
Rwanda have ongoing investigations into fee-splitting. We continue
to
support strongly their efforts to implement management
improvements
recommended by United Nations reports, including by the Office
of Internal
Oversight Services and the 2002 Expert Group Review. The
Office of
Internal Oversight Services has found evidence of abuse of the
legal aid
systems of the Tribunals. A number of remedial actions have
been
recommended by the Office of Internal Oversight Services and Expert
Group
Review, including assigning a number of independent auditors
and
investigators to the tribunals and strengthening the code of conduct
for
defense lawyers.
We urge both Tribunals to implement these steps as soon as
possible,
including the adoption of sanctions that may be applied to those
who
engage in fee-splitting, and to undertake more vigorous efforts
to
identify and bar lawyers engaged in fee-splitting. To date, the
Tribunals
have amended rules that restrict gifts to detainees and have
adopted a
practice of denying remuneration to counsel in connection to
frivolous
motions. Currently, the Tribunals are implementing means to
investigate
indigence claims and are reviewing amendments to the codes of
conduct to
prohibit fee-splitting explicitly and to impose sanctions on
violators.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs,
U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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