Tons of gold and precious metals, thousands of litres of oil, million of euros in cash and thousands of essentials  foreclosed by the Greek government, are wasted every year, and remain in vaults or are buried in landfills, instead being used.

Minister of Justice Mr. Athanasiou, speaking in Parliament announced that next week a new bill will be presented in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance to utilize some of 10 million euros that have been foreclosed by law enforcement agencies for supporting the economically weaker groups.

On April 2013 Proto Thema news agency had revealed that the “hidden treasure” of foreclosures exceeded (then ) 100 million euros, but remained in the vaults of the Deposits and Loans Funds or, in some cases, some goods of great value were thrown away at landfills or burned, according to the applicable laws!

The discarded “treasure ” that the state has, exceeds 100 million euros. It does not use it due to the applicable laws, according to which, the State is not allowed reacquire the “stolen” goods identified by law enforcement agencies.

At the same time, though, the Finance Ministry has not found a way to use tons of gold collected from foreclosures. As it was revealed last year by Proto Thema, during the first quarter of 2013, the prosecuting authorities had foreclosed more than 300 kg of gold, worth about 10 million euros, which remain in the Deposits and Loans Fund “until further notice” according to laws.

Recent data made available at the Department of Justice, only the Financial Crime department has blocked deposits of about 9.5 million euros, 770,000 American dollars and 30,000 Turkish pounds while the state has foreclosed gold, real estate, stocks, jewellery, etc. It is, therefore, clear that the amount announced by Mr Athanasiou is much bigger in reality.

According to this data, each year the state could derive more than € 20 million .

The departments of the Ministry of Finance have suggested that this wealth would automatically be held by the state and be used accordingly and, if the accused is vindicated in the courts, they would be compensated by an equal amount of money or gold.