Georgia Suggests Confiscating Homes

By The Associated Press

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) -- Georgia's justice minister sees little justice in the luxurious homes that government bigshots are building in his impoverished nation's capital. Since even Cabinet ministers here earn little over $200 a month, he suspects the mansions were built on bribes.

So Mikhail Saakashvili has spearheaded a draft law that would allow the state to confiscate the homes of senior government officials if their owners can't prove in court where they got the money to pay for them.

The bill, submitted to parliament last week as part of broad anti-corruption effort by President Eduard Shevardnadze, has pleased many Georgians frustrated by the graft and economic inequality that has blossomed since they won independence with the Soviet collapse a decade ago.

But for others, the bill has raised the specter of violent communist seizures of private property after the Russian Revolution.

Shevardnadze announced Monday that the bill was written at his request, but insisted that it would not lead to a Soviet-style redistribution of property.

``My wish was that a judicial basis would be worked out for increasing the effectiveness of the fight against corruption,'' he said in his weekly radio address.

But he said the bill was prepared too hastily and needed to be toned down because ``it takes away the presumption of innocence'' enshrined in Georgia's constitution.

The bill would allow any Georgian citizen to ask a court to determine the source of money paid for property belonging to any high official in any government agency or parliament member. If the income is ruled illegal, the official would face dismissal and confiscation of the property.

Shevardnadze fought corruption when he was Georgia's Communist boss in the Soviet era, with considerable success. But graft has taken a firmer hold since independence, as salaries have plunged so low that officials often rely on bribes to survive.

Kickbacks are required for registering children for school, opening or closing a business, permission to take a driver's test -- among many other things.

Meanwhile, multistory homes belonging to Cabinet ministers and other senior officials have popped up on the elite Sairma Street in the capital, Tbilisi. The neighborhood has become a tourist attraction in recent years.

The homes are elaborate but not palaces; most would fit in upper middle-class neighborhoods in the West. But they contrast sharply with the rancid-smelling stairwells and sagging roofs of cramped, old homes and Soviet-era apartment blocks that dominated Tbilisi's skyline.

Most of the Sairma homes are estimated to cost between $200,000 and $500,000, according to local press reports. Those are substantial sums for Georgia, where salaries are meager and there is no tradition of mortgages.

Many of the homes are believed to be registered under the names of officials' relatives instead of the officials themselves.

It was unclear when parliament would consider the justice minister's bill.

The bill enjoys support from a team of reformers in the parliament, opposition groups and many in the media. But it will face serious opposition from some lawmakers -- after all, the law would apply to them, too.

Cabinet ministers, their deputies, and heads of departments and agencies ``are committing lawlessness that probably would not be possible in any democratic country,'' Saakashvili said.

The ministers said his bill is aimed at about 150-200 high-profile politicians, and even named two targets at a Cabinet meeting last Wednesday: State Security Minister Vakhtang Kutateladze and Economics and Trade Minister Vano Chkhartishvili.