| BH TV 1 (19,00 hrs) | FED TV (19,30 hrs) | RT RS (19,30) |
| Federation appointments | Veterans loan program | Economic reforms |
| SFOR members | Segregation in schools | Italy-BiH co-operation |
| Hepok workers on strike | Former ZE-DO officials | RS delegates for BiH HoP |
| US soldiers in the P. Gulf | Hamzic gets a house | War criminal arrested |
| Oslobodjenje | Fuel more expensive for four-five pfenig; HPT lawsuit – a case against bank, its companies and Grude; Student petition – requesting banning of 60 minutes show’ The army reduction – professional soldiers in reserve |
| Dnevni Avaz | Ivanic – we have to be more present at the EU; US soldiers will be returned home; A reaction by parents association – a video footage is a proof against Curcic |
| Dnevni List | Air Bosnia facing suspension of flights; Lozancic President of the Federation, Vice presidents Dzihanovic and Radivojevic |
| Vecernji List | Zelimir Rebac, Director of the Federation Customs Administration – even the biggest companies established on fraud; Three young men facing expulsion from Malaysia – Bosniak students cause sexual scandal |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | Banja Luka does not guarantee safety to the Pope – Mostar dropped already; Scandal in Foreign Ministry – BiH embassy to Israel does not know which country it represents |
| Glas Srpski | The RS Tax Administration – less debtors; The BiH Co-ordination Team for fight against terrorism – the Team receives no information |
| Nezavisne Novine | Court proceedings ongoing in Belgrade for kidnapping in Sjeverin – war crimes indictees at large in Visegrad; Unusual beginning of the 2nd semester in Banja Luka schools – ten primary schools without electricity; Three customs in BiH only suit criminals; Donald Hays – VAT will be distributed back to the entities |
| FRY Nacional | Hartmann – Milutinovic will be released if he helps the Prosecution; Seselj – Milutinovic did not go voluntarily |
| Blic | Criticisms of Mikerevic because of ministers; Ratko Gasevic arrested; 30,000 people disappeared in BiH during the war; Volas – Italian help for new jobs; Lidija Korac – the formation of Federation’s authorities without politicisation |
| Vecernje Novosti | Prosper – extradite Mladic by the end of March! |
Political Affairs | |
| Interview with Ivanic
| Avaz pg. 1 and 5 by Almasa Bajric– Mladen Ivanic, newly appointed BiH Foreign Minister, gave an interview to Dnevni Avaz. Commenting on the recent controversial statements by official from neighbouring countries, Ivanic stated that it was in the best interest of BiH for borders to remain the same. “That is the main message coming from BiH.” As for Terzic’s expose, Ivanic stated it was overall fair and balanced, but he disagreed with Terzic on two issues. “It’s the issues of customs and VAT. We need our customs to be organised in the way that would be in accordance with the European concept, but at the same time we have to respect BiH’s reality. The fact that it is made of two entities. There is a possibility of reaching an adequate agreement.” Avaz pg. 4 ‘The appointment of Federation heads depends on the position of the caucus of Serb delegates’ by A. Pilav and A. Hadziarapovic, Oslobodjenje pg. 8 ‘Lozancic’s, Dzihanovic’s and Radivojevic’s nominations’ by S. Sehercehajic – on yesterday’s session of the FBiH House of Representatives (HoR). The HoR yesterday accepted the nominations of Niko Lozancic for the Federation President and Sahbaz Dzihanovic and Desnica Radivojevic as his deputies. The nominations were supported by 60 reps, 14 voted against and six abstained. The FBiH House of Peoples (HoP) should hold a session today where HoP delegates should confirm the appointments. During yesterday’s session, HoR delegates also appointed Serb Deputy President, Dusanka Pecanac, and HoR Secretary Anato Baotic. The HoP Chair, Slavko Maric, stated that unless the three candidates received necessary support from all three caucuses the HoP then has to make a new list (which, according to the dailies, will probably have the same names). If the HoR confirms the second list (regardless of the second round of voting at the HoP) the nomination process will be completed. Velimir Kunic, an SNSD delegate at the HoP, stated their party delegates would raise at today’s HoP session the issue of whether the constituting of the HoP was actually constitutional. He announced that together with |
| FBiH HoR session | SDP delegates they would submit a request with the FBiH Constitutional Court to assess whether the constituting session was constitutional. On the same issue, Vecernji List pg. 2 by Eldina Medunjanin ‘Serb MPs will try to block the appointment’ reads that the three candidates will not get the necessary majority in the HoP by the ‘defective’ Serb Caucus mostly formed by SDP and SNSD members.Also reported in FENA, Slobodna Dalmacija back page, ‘President of Federation of BiH Niko Lozancic?’, Dnevni List pg. 1 and 3 by B. Kristo. |
| Korac on the FBiH government | Blic pg. 7 ‘Without politicisation in forming of the authority’ – President of the BiH Election Commission, Lidija Korac, called upon the parties to restrain from politicisation of issues pertaining the formation of the Federation executive authority and said she expected the FBiH Parliament would pass amendments to the Constitution, which would resolve the issue of the Serb caucus in the FBiH House of Peoples. According to Korac, the Election Commission cannot suggest the solution to the situation as it is not authorised to do so, but it can assist in drafting of the amendment to the Constitution. |
| BiH Presidency with Terzic and Ivanic | Avaz pg. 2 ‘To return the Presidency authorities in the area of foreign policy’, Dnevni List pg. 7 ‘Priorities of BiH foreign policy’ – on a meeting held yesterday among the Presidency members, CoM Chair Adnan Terzic and BiH Foreign Minister Mladen Ivanic. Tihic stated that during the meeting they discussed the establishment of the Presidency’s constitutional position in the foreign policy segment. It was agreed that the Ministry would prepare documents on issues such as foreign policy platform and the situation of the BiH diplomatic-consular web, which the Presidency will then discuss and declare their view on it. DL also reports that the Presidency met with President of the BiH Election Commission, Lidija Korac, which was also attended by the Head of OSCE Mission to BiH, Robert Beecroft (he is also a member of the Election Commission). They discussed two important laws – namely the Law on Conflict of Interest and the Law on Funding of Political Parties and activities with regards to changes to BiH Election Law. |
| CoM session | Avaz pg. 8 ‘The Law on Ministries will be discussed’ – on a CoM session to be held tomorrow. On the session agenda, amongst other things, there will be the Law on Ministries. At the same time, a positive answer arrived from the OHR regarding the appointment of Slobodan Kovac for BiH Justice Minister. During the next CoM session delegates should confirm Kovac’s and Niko Grubisic’s appointment (Deputy Justice Minister). |
| Commentary in Oslobodjenje | Oslobodjenje pg. 2 commentary by Amra Kebo ‘Who is afraid of Ashdown? – Kebo is saying that the RS has been paying very little attention to a number of warnings (one of the latest one being the one by PDHR Hays related to single customs and VAT). According to Kebo, Mladen Ivanic uses every chance to point out that the RS as an entity has bigger rights than BiH as a state. He is support by Sredoje Novic, Director of SIPA, who kept repeating that the agency would not be a joint intelligence service. “And why would RS politicians be afraid? Have any of major obstructionists been removed? No. Has Ashdown maybe removed their intelligence chief because Karadzic has not been arrested yet? No. Has he removed any of those responsible for the ‘Orao’ affair? No. Has Ashdown’s office checked how Ivanic implemented the DPA? No and, according to his Spokesperson Braithwaite, it does not matter. Has he maybe removed the minister of finance due to involvement in a number of criminal actions? No. Has he maybe sold the RS mobile network for peanuts? No. So, why would RS politicians be afraid of Ashdown?” |
| SDA-HDZ coalition | Slobodna Dalmacija pg. 1 and 12 by Zvonimir Cilic – reports that not even three months after the elections Central Bosnia Canton (CBC) is yet to get a new government. This is because the negotiations between the HDZ and SDA, who have a vast majority in the cantonal Assembly, are yet to produce a result, not even after nine meetings. The author says the HDZ tried to arrange a just apportionment of offices. On the other hand a leader of the CBC SDA, Salko Salman, insists that the SDA gets a position of the cantonal Prime Minister exclusively for itself. The reason being that the 1991 census, when Bosniaks had a majority in the Canton, and bigger number of votes in the elections, are reasons behind the request. The author says it is a classic example of an attempt of ‘creating a majority’ and sums the article up by saying the pinnacles of the SDA and HDZ, even the OHR, should take the lead to sort the situation out. |
| Lagumdzija | Oslobodjenje pg. 3 ‘The IC encouraging nationalists’, Nezavisne Novine pg. 4 ‘The IC gives a stick without the carrot to BiH’ – a speech by Zlatko Lagumdzija at the third plenary session of the Council of Social Internacionale entitled ‘Peace and Stability in Balkans’. He emphasised the urgency of arresting Karadzic and Mladic and called on all European leaders of social-democratic parties not to allow the slowing down of the reintegration process in BiH. Speaking of the IC, Lagumdzija stated that they tried to point out to certain IC officials in BiH the unscrupulous campaign by nationalists, but IC officials failed to react. “Their (of IC members) view encouraged nationalists. Even today the IC does not see their mistake, but present nationalists as reformers forgetting what nationalism did to my country and the entire region in the past,” said Lagumdzija. |
| ‘Orao’ affair | Dnevni List back page, Blic pg. 7 ‘SFOR still reads the report’ – carries a statement by Commander of the Multi-National Brigade Northwest, Andrew Farquhar, that SFOR HQ is still reviewing a report on the ‘Orao’ case that was submitted to SFOR by the RS authorities on December 31 last year. Speaking to journalist at yesterday’s press conference, Farquhar said the report was still being translated into English after which it would be reviewed in details. |
| Fiuljanin case | Dnevni List pg. 3 ‘SFOR preparing answer to request on Fiuljanin extradition’, Nezavisne Novine pg.2 ‘NATO decides on Fiuljanin case’ – a statement by Shawn Mell, SFOR Spokesperson. He confirmed yesterday that SFOR had received letters of the BiH Presidency and the Federation government in which they demanded the extradition of Sabahudin Fiuljanin, naturalized BiH citizen suspected of being connected to terrorist organization Al-Qa’ida. DL says that SFOR is preparing replies to these letters. Vecernji List pg. 4 ‘NATO decides on Fiuljanin’s destiny’ – a statement by Mehmed Zilic, Advisor to Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency as saying that the BiH Presidency has not yet received an official reply from SFOR to the letters that the BiH Presidency sent with regard to this case. According to some sources from SFOR, the demand of the BiH Presidency was forwarded to the NATO’s Headquarters and the NATO would decide on Fiuljanin’s destiny. said: “I am an optimist and I believe that the SFOR will not be able to ignore decisions of judicial and executive authorities in BiH any longer,” said Osman Mulahalilovic, Fiuljanin’s lawyer. |
| RS NA | Nezavisne Novine, pg. 6 ‘Tomljanovic is the candidate for RS NA Deputy Speaker’, Blic pg. 7 ‘RS Assembly session continues on Wednesday’– ‘Tomljanovic is the candidate for RS NA Deputy Speaker’- representative of NHI, Tomislav Tomljanovic is the only candidate for the RS NA Deputy Speaker from the Croat people and most presumably, he will be appointed at today’s session of the RS National Assembly. The daily has learnt from Tomljanovic that his appointment as the Deputy Speaker is a done deal. |
| RS government hand over | Nezavisne Novine pg. 7 ‘Mikerevic and Ministers to assume their posts today’, Glas Srpski pg. 3 ‘Transfer of duty today’ – the dailies report that the hand over ceremony will take place today. NN reports that the new Prime Minister, Dragan Mikerevic, inherited five Ministers from Mladen Ivanic’s cabinet, while only one of them, Gojko Savanovic is in the same Ministry. All others moved to other ministries of the government. |
| Criticisms of the RS government | Blic pg. 7 ‘Criticisms because of ministers’ – reports that there is a lot of criticism regarding the new ministers in the RS government whose vocations do not have anything in common with posts they are occupying. The criticism is mostly referring to Minister of Interior Affairs, Zoran Djeric, who is an architect, Minister of Defence, Milovan Stankovic, who is an economist and Minister of Administration and Local Self-government, Slaven Pekic, who has a degree from the University of Engineering. Spokesman of SDS, Dusan Stojicic, said that the new government should be given 100-day deadline to prove itself, and ‘if there is no positive results, they should leave’. He added that ‘anonymous’ names of ministers were not a handicap, but the government’s advantage. Spokesman of PDP, Igor Crnadak, said that the assessments of inexpertness of new ministers were product of the opposition’s dissatisfaction. SNSD leader, Milorad Dodik, said he was not surprised with that, adding that professionalism and qualifications had been neglected while forming the new government. Dodik thinks that the new government does not have authority and it has been created through political calculation. Vice-president of the RS, Adil Osmanovic, said he was quite satisfied with the new RS government. “I think that vocation of ministers should not be the issue, because they are occupying political posts. Ministers should have good organisational skills and authority and good assistants around them,” Osmanovic said. |
| SDS to resolve internal conflicts? | Nezavisne Novine pg. 6 ‘There are no divisions in SDS’- as stated by a member of the SDS main Board, Milenko Stanic. He announced that the highest SDS officials would meet with officials of SDS Bijeljina in an attempt to resolve the conflict that followed the distribution of ministerial posts in the new RS government. ‘Cvijetin Nikic is a reasonable politician and I believe that we will reach compromise,’ said Stanic. According to the SDS official, the new RS Minister for Labour and Veterans, Mico Micic is from Bijeljina, thus Semberija Region is represented in the government. |
| Brcko government | Oslobodjenje pg. 2 ‘Inefficient government in Brcko District’ – according to councillor Enes Pasalic, during a preparatory meeting for the Assembly session the Brcko District Assembly, councillors have pointed out numerous omissions in the work of the government. “I hope that we will define a set of measures in relation with unemployment problems, non-efficiency in the implementation of the housing program, tardiness and non-efficiency of the administration, non-respecting the Statute and in relation with protection of social categories, which the government will have to respect” Pasalic stated. |
| BiH embassy in Israel | Slobodna Dalmacija pg. 1 and 13 by Zlatko Tulic – reports that the violation of diplomatic service and BiH laws are the main reasons for calling back of the BiH Ambassador to Israel, Danijel Abraham Romano. Allegedly, the BiH embassy to Israel is not organized in accordance to BiH regulations and code of diplomatic service, not even after two years since the opening of the embassy. SD reports the scandal was revealed in October last year after a commission of the BiH Foreign Ministry carried out an inspection when it detected a series of violations, such as the inappropriate communication with Israeli authorities and representatives of diplomatic corps. Moreover, the BiH embassy was not allegedly flying the BiH flag, did not have a proper plaque to that extent that the name of BiH was incorrectly spelled at the entrance. SD comments the whole situation by criticizing the whole practice of appointment of ambassadors where ‘suitable’ have the advantage over the capable candidates. |
| AM sped update | Vecernji List pg. 1 and 2 by D. Jazvic – tells of an interesting twist in the ‘AM Sped’ affair, due to which HR Paddy Ashdown removed former Federation Finance Minister, Nikola Grabovac. According to VL’s source close to the Federation government, the current Federation Deputy Minister of Finances, Sefika Hafizovic, promoted Selima Agic, the Head of Department for Return of Customs Revenues, with the Federation Finance Ministry. According to VL, the odd thing about the promotion is that Agic was the first person to sign the debatable decision on the return of customs revenues (1,76 million KM) to ‘AM Sped’. The daily adds that all Agic’s superiors, who signed the same decision, were either removed or fired. “Instead of ascertaining her responsibility, Selma Agic gets promoted by Deputy Minister Hafizovic,” reads VL. |
| VL editorial | Dnevni List pg. 7 ‘Covic likes Communists better than members of Coalition’byEduard Babic – with regard to the constituting of the BiH House of Peoples, the daily carries an editorial saying that when the election of Croat representatives to the BiH House of Peoples is in question 4 HDZ representatives and one SDP candidate (Tomislav Limov, the current Federation Deputy Minister of Interior) were elected. DL says that the HDZ-Croat Christian Democrats Coalition actually got all 5 positions, however, Dragan Covic, the Croat member of the BiH Presidency, gave one position to Limov in order that Limov covers up the role that Covic had in the Eronet case. |
Economic Affairs | |
| Economic conference
| Avaz pg. 2 ‘For the VAT introduction 14 to 18 months needed’, Nezavisne Novine pg. 4 ‘VAT will be distributed back to the entities’, Blic pg. 2 ‘The joint customs in 2003’ – a statement by PDHR Donald Hays that it is necessary to introduce VAT at the state level. During a press conference yesterday in Banja Luka he said he did not think the money from VAT should go to the state vault, but immediately returned to where it belongs – to municipalities, cantons and entities. He stated that for the VAT introduction they needed between 14 and 18 months. Hays chaired yesterday a meeting at the RS Chamber of Commerce in Banja Luka where he stated that the aim of discussion was how to continue economic reforms. NN reported Hays’ comment to Mikerevic’s speech before the RS National Assembly. “Even though I co-operated closely with Mr. Mikerevic while he was the Chairman of the BiH CoM, I must tell you that the OHR did not give him any guidelines as to what he should do. We are extremely happy that Mr. Mikerevic said he would establish a working group comprised of experts to work on a framework law that would define the paying of VAT and customs reform.’ |
| Mikerevic on a meeting with Hays | Nezavisne Novine, pg. 4 ‘VAT should be income of the entity’ – RS Prime Minister, Dragan Mikerevic told the daily that he would meet with PDHR Donald Hays today and that they would focus discussion on the introduction of single customs administration and VAT at the state level. Mikerevic stated that one of the goals of the RS tax policy was to replace the sales tax with the VAT and emphasised that the VAT income should go to the entity budgets. |
| A round table on BiH economy | Nezavisne Novine pg. 4 ‘Three customs only suit criminals’, Glas Srpski, pg. ‘To accelerate economic reforms’ – on yesterday’s round table on economic reforms held in Banja Luka. Donald Hays stated that the international community had strongly moved towards the reforms but it was sceptical whether the BiH politicians would carry out those reforms. Hays also emphasised that the idea of the RS authorities to keep three customs and tax administration in BiH would not be supported by the OHR. Director of the World Bank in BiH, Joseph Ingram and Head of the OHR’s Working Group for customs reforms, Renzo Davidi, also participated in the discussion. |
| SBiH on Eronet | Avaz pg. 3 ‘SBiH will do everything to prevent privatisation of Eronet’, Oslobodjenje pg. 5 ‘Prevent the privatisation of telecommunications’ – an SBiH press conference held by the party heads Safet Halilovic and Beriz Belkic. They made it clear that this party will do everything to prevent the privatisation process in the sphere of telecommunications. A party delegation also intends to request a meeting with HR Ashdown to present him with problems and offer an appropriate solution that the state would benefit from. “We will do everything to prevent one of the biggest thefts that have taken place in the past years, and that is the privatisation of Eronet the value of which is established between one and 1,5 billion KM,” said Halilovic. Belkic warned that the situation was pretty alarming, that the public was quite docile and not informed of the core of the problem. |
| HPT raises a lawsuit | Oslobodjenje pg. 1, 4 and 5 by A. Omeragic – on a lawsuit the HPT filed with the Mostar municipality Court on January 13 against Grude municipality, Herecgovacka Bank, ‘Hercegovina Insurance’ company, ‘Croherc’ company and ‘Alpina Commerce’ company. The HPT is requesting the annulling of contracts that empowered the Grude municipality and the rest of the above mentioned companies to become co-owners of Eronet. The Federation government is also ‘involved’ in the case. Meanwhile, the CRA, after meeting with the CoM reps, stated they would issue a tender to chose experts who will determine the value of the third GSM operator. The daily points out that it is uncertain what the CoM will decide, but it is certain that the OHR will do nothing. They quoted OHR Spokesperson Mario Brkic as saying that the procedure surrounding the granting of a licence to Eronet was a matter for the CRA and the CoM, not the OHR. |
| Milisic’s statement | Avaz pg. 4 ‘VAT and customs system are of key importance in the reform process’, Dnevni List pg. 5 ‘Unified customs and value added tax conditions for EU assistance’ – a statement by OHR Spokesperson Oleg Milisic. “The experience shows that separate customs and VAT systems would not function as good as a single,” stated Milisic following a recent statement by Sarovic in an interview for Avaz (see Press Preview /Round-Up from January 20). DL pg. 6 ‘BiH in crises as early as of next year’ – carries that Milisic also stated that the goal of the conference on the BiH economy, was to identify the biggest obstacles to the development of the BiH economy. |
| Interview with Rebac | Vecernji List pg. 1 and 5 – an interview with Zelimir Rebac, Director of the Federation Customs Administration. “During the period of 8 months only we revealed customs’ evasion amounting to 200 million KM, and for this reason the International Community estimations about 600 million KM of unpaid customs were becoming more realistic to me. We are in an absurd situation in which revealing of new violators of customs regulations simply threats with breakdown of the economy in the entire BiH,” said Rebac. Asked whether the new authority had already started to exert pressure against him Rebac replied that there were some messages that he personally did not like. “The Customs Administrations have to be independent, de-politicized, and without political pressures coming from any side… We openly support the establishment of the unified customs. That it the only way for it to function.” |
| Payment of customs debts | Vecernji List pg. 1 and 3 by Zdenko Jurilj – notes that a dozen or so the biggest companies from the Federation, which damaged the Federation budget by tens of million of KM, will officially request from the new authority to pay back their debts through part payment. According to VL, most of the debtors are meat producers and oil and high tariff goods importers. The daily goes on to say that some big companies had their people at strategic places in order to evade taxes and that the Federation Prosecution had information about a few political figures who were involved in the scheme too.”We do not how, but the debt on account of unpaid customs must be solved (…) We will find a solution how to sort out the debts,” said Director of the Federation Customs Administration, Zelimir Rebac. |
The Hague Affairs | |
| Prosper in Yugoslavia
| Oslobodjenje pg. 48 ‘Convincing SRY and BiH to extradite war criminals’, Avaz pg. 2 ‘The US requesting from Yugoslavia to extradite Ratko Mladic to The Hague by March 31’, Nezavisne Novine pg.3 ‘March 31 deadline for extradition of Mladic’, Blic pg. 2, Nacional pg. 5 – a visit of the US Ambassador for War Crime Issues, Pierre Richard Prosper to Yugoslavia. During a meeting with the Serbian PM, Zoran Djindjic, he requested that Yugoslavia extradited Ratko Mladic and the remaining two war criminals from the ‘Vukovar three’ group by March 31 if they wanted to continue receiving the US help. After Belgrade, Ambassador Proser should be arriving to Sarajevo and Banja Luka where he would request from RS officials to arrest Karadzic, suspected of hiding somewhere in the RS. |
| Isakov on Mladic | Nacional pg. 4 ‘Mladic is hiding in BiH’ – quotes Miodrag Isakov, leader of Vojvodina’s Reformists, as saying that Ratko Mladic is in BiH territory and that the BiH authorities have the greatest responsibility for his arrest. (Blic pg. 16) |
| Gasevic arrested | Nacional pg. 8, Blic pg. 16 – Ratko Gasevic, Serb from the Sarajevo suburb of Hadzici, was arrested in Sarajevo on Monday on suspicion of committing war crimes – the relevant cantonal court has confirmed. Gasevic should appear before the investigative judge. He was arrested on the basis of an agreement with The Hague Tribunal, which envisages trying war criminals before domestic courts. |
Media Affairs | |
| Philosophy students vs. Hadziomerovic | Oslobodjenje pg. 1 and 5, Avaz pg. 8 ‘Editor Bakir Hadziomerovic has an inferiority complex because he is a Bosniak’ – a group of students from the University of Philosophy in Sarajevo wrote a petition for banning or changing program orientation of the political show ’60 minutes’. As an explanation, students wrote that the show editor, Bakir Hadziomerovic, was an amateur and rude. They also claimed he had an inferiority complex because he was Bosniak. They add that this was Bakir’s personal problem and viewers of the Federation TV should not have to put up with it. One of the signatories of the petition, Amer Bahtijar, stated that they also signed the petition because Bakir was insulting ‘an old friend Ashdown’. Both dailies carried a reply by Hadziomerovic who said he could not understand why students from the University of Philosophy would discuss journalism. He added they were not competent to assess his work. |
Police Affairs | |
| EUPM on Ahmici case | FENA, Avaz pg. 24 ‘The attack on a returnee in Ahmici not ethnically motivated’, Oslobodjenje pg. 2 ‘Attack on Jahic was not ethnically motivated’ – there are indications that the attack on the 22-year-old Elmin Jahic, a returnee to Ahmici in Vitez Municipality, was not ethnically motivated, EUPM Spokesperson Jon Oskar Solnes told a press conference today. He reacted to yesterday’s media reports that the attack could have been ethnically motivated, especially happening in a sensitive area where a massacre against Bosniaks took place ten years ago. Solnes said that EUPM members are monitoring the investigation into this case. |