28.
The changes to the 1974 Will made by the 1984 Codicil were as follows:
(a) the existing appointment of executors was revoked, and in its place Bane
appointed Mr Homburger, Mr Hadley and Mr Wigmore to be his executors and
trustees;
(b) the existing trusts of residue were revoked, including in particular Mirjana’s
life interest, and replaced with a gift of residue to Zoran upon his attaining the age
of 35, with a provision for substitution of issue, and an ultimate trust of the whole
of residue for Mr Wigmore absolutely;
(c) the existing powers to pay or apply capital to or for the benefit of
beneficiaries were also revoked, and replaced with a power for the trustees to pay
capital to Zoran or apply capital for his benefit as they should think fit.
29.
Later in 1984 Bane resigned from the board of Transtrade AG, and Transtrade AG
transferred to him its shares in Transtrade UK Ltd. Thus from this stage onwards the
affairs of the two companies were separated. The business of Transtrade UK Ltd
continued to decline, and the company was eventually put into voluntary liquidation
in 1989.
30.
Meanwhile, on 15 May 1985 Mirjana petitioned for judicial separation from Bane. In
the ensuing matrimonial proceedings, agreement was eventually reached between
Bane and Mirjana that they should divorce and a decree nisi was made on 18
December 1985, followed by a decree absolute on 4 February 1986. In the divorce
settlement, Bane transferred Westmead House to Mirjana and paid her a lump sum of
about £155,000; while she transferred to him her shareholding in Transtrade UK Ltd.
The settlement was on a “clean break” basis, and the property adjustment order dated
21 February 1986 provided that on death neither party should be entitled to make a
claim against the other under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants)
Act 1975.
31.
Around the same time, Bane also made an agreement with his sister and his mother as
to the division between them of family assets. One of the results of this agreement
was that Bane’s mother gave £50,000 to Zoran, which he used to buy the Gleneagles
property from Jovanka for £47,000.
32.
From about the end of 1984 onwards, Bane’s delusions were firmly established and
although he remained fully capable of dealing with most financial and business
matters, and although in many respects his behaviour was perfectly normal, in other
respects his behaviour and lifestyle became very strange indeed. For example, he
lived a nomadic life with no settled base, and for considerable periods he slept on a
camp bed in the offices of Transtrade UK Ltd, or moved from hotel to hotel to escape
imagined persecution. The list of those conspiring against him expanded to include
business colleagues and associates, his Swiss bankers, his professional advisers, old
friends, and many others. His writings degenerated more and more often into
disjointed and demented ramblings, displaying a wide range of semi-comprehensible
(and at times wholly incomprehensible) references to history, politics, literature,
mythology and much else, and a series of recurring fixations, especially with people’s
sexuality, and a strong streak of anti-Semitism.