Compensation fund chief fired in dispute over exchange rate calculation

The head of the body distributing compensation to former slaves and forced laborers of the Third Reich was fired yesterday. Bartosz Jalowiecki, head of the Polish-German Reconciliation Fund, which is responsible for handling euro 920 million of payments to over half a million Polish survivors of the Nazi war machine, was fired after accusing the German side of exchanging the funds at an "unacceptable" rate. A government investigation had revealed, however, that the Polish fund was partly to blame for failing to secure clear terms for the exchange rate into zlotys. In a deal negotiated by Jalowiecki, Poland had been the only country in Eastern Europe to expose itself to financial risks by demanding payments in local currency. According to deputy Treasury Minister Hubert Laszkiewicz, Jalowiecki was dismissed since he had signed an inappropriate deal with the German compensation fund. (Rzeczpospolita, p. 1; Reuters) A.Z.