Draft law promises compensation for Communists' illegal property seizures

The Treasury Ministry has almost completed work on a new draft of a law comp ensating the owners of property that was seized illegally by the Communists after World War Two. The draft, likely to be submitted to Parliament early n ext year, is fundamentally different from the one prepared by the previous r uling coalition and rejected by President Aleksander Kwasniewski. The new re gulations are believed to cover only real estate, with restitution to be pai d out in the form of special certificates that can be used to buy certain St ate-owned property. The claims on property would likely not be refunded in f ull, but only as a proportion of the value, which would decrease as the size of the claim rises. The previous government proposed paying compensation equ ivalent to 50% of property seized, in kind if possible, or in certificates. The President vetoed the bill, agreeing with opposition claims that it could be too costly for the State. (Gazeta Wyborcza, Dec. 8-9, p. 24) T.J.