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A man from Chrysopouli, Kavala region, 53, unemployed, happened to be at the epicentre of an investigation by the Office for Combating Economic Crimes.

The man has at least seven cars, some of which super luxurious. But he did not buy any of these – according to him, they had been "given as a present" by friends. He also has bank accounts with hundreds of thousands of interconnected euro deposits, which have been made by 30 - 40 people: "old friends" of his, in his words. He has travelled regularly to Turkey. Over the past three years he went there 7 times, each time with a different car, and apparently the purpose of his travels was selling gold. 1,700 euro were discovered in one of his accounts, as well as a safe with values and a gold ingot, and, in the garage of his house, among other things, a brand new Porsche car was discovered and a machine for melting gold.

The man, whose family owns a bakery in the area, was arrested a year ago at Kipi border crossing point on the Greek border with Turkey, Evros region, while he was trying to enter the country with currency worth 18,000 euro without declaring it. At the time, he admitted that he sold jewellery and gold in Turkey without documents. In this way, he fell under the attention of the economic police.

Investigators consider the number of transfers, each ranging from 10,000 euro to 70,000 euro in his account by dozens of people without payment, as evidence that the man, who has been accused of participation in a fight, has created a "hidden bank" with huge profits due to the crisis.

At the same time, his wife has a pawnshop near Kavala and has probably sold gold in neighbouring countries. According to information from officials of the Ministry of Finance, her activities have a direct connection with the transactions of her husband.

He was summoned to testify about all this, but he was not convincing, both in terms of his transactions and bank deposits. Regarding the Porsche, he claimed that he bought it with a bank loan, but he did not provide the necessary evidence. The investigation found that the man, although he has declared zero income, has donated 81,000 euro for the purchase of an ambulance to the local hospital. When asked why he did that and where he got the money from, he replied that he did it in the memory of a close relative, again without explaining the origin of the money.

In the coming days, officials of the Office for Combating Economic Crimes will summon people who gave him as a present the luxury cars or transferred money in his accounts. They will also look for new data from banks about the transactions of the rich unemployed.