Four jailed in wake of restitution scandal

A former official at the Warsaw city hall, Jakub R. (name withheld under Polish privacy laws), his two parents, as well his lawyer, were jailed for three months on charges of corruption and fraud.

Investigations are ongoing.

The jail terms are the latest chapter in a scandal over the restitution of real estate in the Polish capital that has already seen the dismissal of several officials at Warsaw City Hall, and calls for mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz to resign.

Officials fired

Amid media allegations of a massive web of malpractice involving Warsaw officials, Gronkiewicz-Waltz last year announced that City Hall was firing three staff over the restitution of a prime plot of land on Chmielna street in the centre of the capital.

Gronkiewicz-Waltz, Warsaw mayor since 2006 and a leading light in the opposition Civic Platform (PO) party, said that the decision to transfer the plot was “hastily taken” and that the three officials involved did not consider “all of the circumstances of the case”.

The origins of the scandal date back to the seizure of property under the October 1945 Bierut Decree, named after former Polish communist leader Bolesław Bierut, which legalised the confiscation of plots of private land in the capital.

Thousands of private buildings were taken from their owners. Since the fall of communism in Poland in 1989 it has been possible to submit claims for the return of such confiscated property. (rg)