Most cases of mismanagement of the aid from Croatia occurred at the time when Jelavic was defence minister of Bosnia's Croat-Muslim entity in 1997 and 1998, McNair said. Asked by reporters to specify the amount of the aid Jelavic was charged to have embezzled, McNair said it was a sizeable amount, but did not specify it.
Jelavic was found guilty on four counts of his indictment relating to unlawful activities in connection with shares of Hercegovacka Banka, establishment of the Hercegovina Osiguranje insurance company, illegal spending of funds and allocation of housing loans to his associates. He was acquitted of charges of abuse of office and tax evasion relating to the submission of information on pension and disability insurance for members of the Bosnian Croat army (HVO).
McNair said today's verdict was an important step towards the establishment of the rule of law in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Explaining the sentence earlier in the day, the president of the trial chamber, Judge Malcolm Simmons, dismissed claims by defence counsel that Jelavic had not been obliged to channel financial donations from Croatia into the budget of the Croat-Muslim entity, but that the donor, in this case Croatia, was responsible for that.
Simmons said Jelavic was responsible for directing large amounts of money from Croatia to Mostar, into the accounts of Hercegovacka Banka shareholders, officials of the Croatian Democratic Union and members of the Bosnian Croat army.
Citing examples of abuse of power, Simmons mentioned the "Monitor M" company, previously managed by Croatian general Ljubo Cesic Rojs, which he said employed demobilised HVO members working on the construction of roads in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. "In 1998, when Jelavic was Defence Minister, the Ministry of Defence of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina paid Monitor M more than 50 million convertible marks (more than EUR 25 million), although Jelavic did not have the authority to transfer the funds," Simmons said.
Visibly surprised that Jelavic did not attend the announcement of the verdict, Simmons asked defence attorney Dragan Barbaric for an explanation. Barbaric replied that Jelavic was not bound by law to attend the announcement of the verdict, which prosecutor McNair corroborated.
Asked when he had seen Jelavic last, Barbaric said he met him this morning, but Jelavic did not tell him anything in particular. The attorney was visibly dissatisfied with the verdict, but declined to comment on it.
Jelavic's wife attended the announcement of the verdict, but would not comment on it either.