By Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 5 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he hopes to appoint judges by the end of the year to preside over a special court that would prosecute suspected killers of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri and other political figures.

But Ban, in a report sent to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, did not give a date for when the tribunal would begin to function but outlined how judges, prosectors and other officials would be named.

The tribunal, Ban said, would begin functioning when a special U.N. commission investigating the murders had made substantial progress and financing was obtained. Some $35 million is needed for the first year and pledges of $85 million for the second and third year.

Hariri and 22 others died in February 2005 in a Beirut car bomb blast that interim U.N. findings have linked to Syrian and Lebanese security officials. Syria has denied involvement but the outcry forced it to withdraw its troops from Lebanon.

The judges will be appointed by the United Nations from a list of 12 nominated by the Lebanese government. Lebanon on July 17 submitted such a list, which will remained sealed until the selection process begins.

Ban said a panel of experts would "interview the candidates during the autumn and I hope to appoint the judges by the end of 2007."

The United Nations and the Lebanese government agreed last year that a special tribunal based outside Lebanon would try those suspected of killing Hariri and others implicated in a spate of political assassinations. The Netherlands has agreed to host the court in The Hague.

In May, the Security Council unilaterally approved setting up the tribunal after anti-government parliamentarians refused to let the Lebanese legislature convene to approve the Beirut government's request.

Lebanon has also sent the United Nations a list of candidates for prosecutor. The registrar will be a U.N. staff member of the United Nations and Ban said he would identify "suitable candidates" before the end of the year.

Prosecutor Serge Brammertz of Belgium, head of the U.N. investigations, has not named any suspects in reports to the Security Council but expressed concern that deteriorating security in Lebanon could hamper his inquiry.

Brammertz also is investigating 17 other political murders or attempted murders in Lebanon.

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