While David Bain is not required to pay back legal aid granted to him for his retrial, he is making some repayments for aid granted to him for pre-trial appeals.
The Otago Daily Times yesterday reported Mr Bain would not be required to repay legal aid because he was not assessed at the time the aid was granted as being in a position to repay it.
That was clarified yesterday by the Legal Services Agency, which confirmed he did not have to repay aid granted to him in July 2007 for his three-month-long retrial, but did have a repayment plan in place for aid later granted to him for pre-trial appeals in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.
Mr Bain received in total just over $2 million in three separate grants of aid and was assessed as to whether he could repay the money on each application, a spokeswoman for the Legal Services Agency said.
Legal aid for the retrial was granted in July 2007, for appeals in the Court of Appeal in September 2008 and for appeals in the Supreme Court in February 2009.
Last month, Mr Bain was acquitted by a jury of the murders of five members of his immediate family in Dunedin in 1994.
He has been employed for some of the time since his release on bail from prison in May 2007 by his supporter Joe Karam's son Richard Karam in his coffee company.
Details of how much of the legal aid he must repay were confidential, the spokeswoman said.
"This information is private to David Bain."
In general, repayment plans were tailored to an individual's financial circumstances.
It was usual for repayments to be made on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis.
Concerning people on repayment plans coming in to large amounts of money, the agency's policy was that long-term debt repayment plans were reviewed annually and adjusted accordingly as, and if, required.
