A total of 960 million yen will be paid to about 2,100 claimants for damages from Aum Shinrikyo -- many of them victims of crimes blamed on the cult -- early next week, lawyers for Aum's bankruptcy case said Wednesday at a claimants' meeting in Tokyo.Saburo Abe, a lawyer who has worked as an administrator to dispose of Aum's assets since the Tokyo District Court declared Aum bankrupt in March 1996, said next week will be the final opportunity to distribute the money to claimants because almost all of Aum's assets have already been disposed.Families of those who were killed in the 1995 Tokyo subway nerve gas attack will accept about 28.5 million yen, as opposed to the 126 million yen they had sought. Although the central and local governments as well as Teito Rapid Transit Authority (Eidan) have abandoned their financial claims so that individual claimants can accept more compensation, the victims will still receive less than they sought because Aum's assets were found to be far smaller than the amount claimed.Compensation will total about 23 percent of the amount claimed by the victims and their families of the subway gas attack and the 1994 gas attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture. Neighbors of Aum facilities in Yamanashi Prefecture will accept about 18 percent of the amount they had claimed. Many of the cases of former followers who had demanded reimbursements of donations they had made were dismissed.In order to fill up the deficits in the damages the claimants sought and to work more for relief, lawyers concerned with the bankruptcy case have established a foundation. A total of about 10 million yen has been collected through the foundation so far, Abe said.
