Dodgy Property Deals

The fall of Saddam Hussein has unearthed some dodgy property deals in Iraq.

It was common practice, under the dictatorship of Saddam's Baath party, for the state to strip political opponents and those sentenced to death or prison or deported of their assets.

Now that Saddam has gone, the new regime has allowed people to reclaim their "stolen" property.

The law denies compensation to those who bought contested property at government auctions, and is unclear on what those who have to give back property would get in return.

This has led, not surprisingly to complicated legal disputes as to who owns what.

There have been 77,000 claims, in which about 1,000 final decisions were made with half the applications rejected.

Two favourable rulings from the commission for properties were given to the two cousins of former prime minister, Iyad Allawi.

Commission chief Suhail Saleh was a member of the Baathist party, and is seen by many to be biased in his rulings.

There are other worries as to ownership; the home of former deputy premier Tareq Aziz was taken over by Shiite leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, entire blocks in Baghdad's upscale Mansur district occupied by the Iraqi National Congress party of Ahmed Chalabi and several homes and buildings taken over by Allawi's Iraqi National Accord party among others.

Haitham Fadel, the official who compiled the property list, was shot in Baghdad in May 2004 with Chalabi's nephew Salam.

Money and property can be very divisive.