Poland Faces One Billion Euro Lawsuit Over Pre-War Bonds And property's

Poland faces a one billion euro lawsuit over pre-war state bonds, which till now it has refused to repay.

The class action suit has been filed in a New York court by US lawyer Ed Fagan on behalf of the families of Holocaust victims living in the States. Fagan has gone on record saying that since 1945 all Polish governments 'knowingly misled bondholders by failing to honor debts or establish a programme through which such claims could be paid'.

Polish restitution lawyer Maciej Tamka from Hogan and Hatson says that Fagan's lawsuit doesn't just cover the issue of bearer bonds. "It refers not only to the bonds. It refers also to the property which was expropriated in Poland without any fee, any reimbursement. That's true what Fagan says that Poland failed to restitute the property or to pay any reimbursement for that money and that refers not only to the communist time, but also to free Poland. It is because it is extremely difficult and expensive for this country to do that and because there is no political will to do that."