Cablegate: Lebanon Tribunal: Ola and Lebanese Nearing

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OO RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHTRO RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUCNDT #0109 0372312
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 062312Z FEB 08
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3670
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000109

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PTER UNSC SY LE
SUBJECT: LEBANON TRIBUNAL: OLA AND LEBANESE NEARING
SOLUTION FOR COMPENSATING JUDGES

REF: A. A. USUN 104

B. B. STATE 10709

1. (SBU) UN Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs
Larry Johnson advised Amb. Wallace on February 6 that the
Lebanese Government is provisionally amenable to the
new proposal described in ref A for compensating the Lebanese
judges for the risk associated with their service to the
Special Tribunal for Lebanon, but awaits final approval for
this proposal from PM Siniora. The GOL is now trying to
identify the required funds in the Lebanese budget and
determine how to transfer those funds to a bank account in
New York for the judges' use.

2. (SBU) Under this proposal, as soon as the UN announces
the Lebanese judges' selection but before the judges assume
their duties, the Lebanese government would make a lump-sum
payment into a blind trust account at JP Morgan. The sum
would not exceed the equivalent of USD 5000 for each month
the Lebanese judges are expected to serve on the Tribunal.
According to Johnson, the payment would be comparable to the
UN's evacuation payments to staff, which are the equivalent
of USD 4,800 per month. JP Morgan, as trustee, would make
incremental payments to the judges from the trust as long as
the UN certifies to JP Morgan that the Lebanese judges are
continuing to serve on the Tribunal. At the UN's request,
the Management Committee would have no role in establishing
or administering the blind trust.

4. (U) COMMENT: As this proposal falls within reftel
instructions, Mission plans to support it within the
Management Committee of the tribunal, assuming the GOL
identifies the required funds. END COMMENT.
KHALILZAD

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