The media obtained the figure by investigating the operations of Mondo, a company from the southern city of Mostar which is connected to Hercegovacka Banka.
The bank's deputy temporary manager, Marija Begovic, testifying against former HDZ BH leader Ante Jelavic on Thursday confirmed that one million convertible marks had been paid into the accounts of 258 Bosnian Croat officials in October 1999 on a decision by Branko Raic, director of Mondo, one of the companies managed by the HDZ BH.
After her testimony, Nezavisne Novine daily printed copies of orders of transfer which show that the money went to Jelavic and his successor in the collective state presidency, Dragan Covic, who at that time was finance minister in Bosnia's Croat-Muslim entity, but also to numerous officials on different levels of authority, including ambassadors, members of parliament, and judges.
The list of those who received between 4,800 and 800 euros includes incumbent Deputy Foreign Minister Lidija Topic, two Supreme Court judges in the Croat-Muslim entity, Ignjacije Dodik and Pero Zelic, and Election Commission member Lidija Korac.
The cash payments from Mondo's account in Hercegovacka Banka were cut by 10 percent. The resulting amount was allegedly paid into the account of the Gojko Susak Foundation, but there is no data as to how this money was spent. The late Susak was a Croatian defence minister.
Mile Kudic, an ex-HDZ BH official and an official in the Croat-Muslim entity parliament, confirmed he had received 1,000 euros to cover costs over a one-year period.
"That was support to us from Mostar who often travelled and stayed in Sarajevo," he told Nezavisne Novine, adding that although he had been a relatively high ranking party official he received considerably less than other lower rank persons.
Kudic said he had not opened an account in Hercegovacka Banka in his name, but that this had been done by someone else who wanted a bigger cut, giving the rest to other people.
In her testimony, Bogojevic said there existed evidence that names had been changed on Hercegovacka Banka accounts used by senior HDZ BH officials like Jelavic.
Sources at the bank said the names had been changed in order to prevent the publication of clients' confidential data.
The president of the Herceg-Bosna branch of the Croatian Disabled Homeland War Veterans Association, Andjelko Barun, had no comment on allegations that HDZ BH officials had appropriated money intended for veterans, while the president of the HVO Demobilised Veterans Association, Marko Radic, said it had been a case of theft and that those responsible should be held accountable.
The chairman of the Bosnian Helsinki Committee on Human Rights, Srdjan Dizdarevic, said this was a scandal which confirmed earlier speculations that funds intended for veterans had been used to finance the HDZ BH and its activists. He added that previously there had been no hard evidence to confirm the speculations.