December 15, 2011
Nikos Lekkas' team of tax investigators knew they were on to something when they found that a humble Greek farmer on the island of Thasos owned a red Ferrari and a Porsche.
Intrigued by how a farmer who had declared just 100,000 euros in income over the past decade could afford such luxuries, Lekkas dispatched an undercover tax agent to the north Aegean island.
The agent was back soon -- not only was the Thasos "farmer" earning far more than he had disclosed to the state, he was in an entirely different line of business: loan sharking.
Greece is now close to a deal to seize 10 million euros from the man, says Lekkas, the no. 2 official in Greece's newly relaunched Financial and Economic Crime unit. He proudly points to the case as one of many signs Greece is finally serious about hunting down tax cheats and making them pay up.
"Earlier there was no political will by governments to get to the bottom of this," Lekkas, a tax veteran at 59, said in his office near Athens's sprawling port.
"Now that we've reached the edge of the cliff, they've decided to implement measures against tax evasion."
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