High life
Crooked
Taki
New York T shall not gloat because it doesn't suit I me, but I hope every British subject who has the bad luck to own property in Greece gives me my due. After all, I have been war- ning you since that memorable day in Oc- tober 1977 that you were dealing with the greatest thief since Ali Baba: the Greek government. A Greek decree of 1927 barred foreigners from owning property in frontier areas, but as Greece is bordered by islands everywhere, north, south, west and east, the law in ef- fect meant that no foreigner could own pro- perty on an island. Then in 1962 the law was changed, as the Greeks decided that foreign money was easier to get by selling them a few acres than by blackmailing the Americans for more aid, which is what they had been doing until then. The wily Greeks got round the law — a law which incidental- ly they refused to repeal because they knew even then that it might come in handy one day — by encouraging the foreigners to set up limited liability companies based in Greece, which enjoyed all the rights of Greek nationals. A week ago, however, the Supreme Court ruled that since the com- panies were not really Greek-controlled, they could not, for reasons of national security, benefit from the same privileges. In other words, they made it possible for the people who sold the land originally, to reclaim it, this time with substantial profit. I say substantial because believe it or not, the original vendor has only to pay the pre- sent owners the sum he received in the first place. Just think: you buy a piece of land from a Greek, a piece of rock really, and you cultivate it, grow trees on it, plant gardens and even build a house. Then, when it is finally finished the Greek returns and pays you the original amount you paid him, and he takes over.
The latest victim is Jacob Rothschild, the
merchant banker, and although no friend of mine, his case makes my hair stand on end with frustration. When I was in Corfu three years ago this month, I heard some rumblings from the locals. It seems that the heirs to the vendors realised that the piece of land that Rothschild bought was beginn- ing to take on value after the money he had sunk into it. So they decided to have their cake back. The original suit was thrown out of court but then the socialists came into power.Now there are ministers and judges involved who are being given bribes and have decided that the Greek vendors are right and Rothschild wrong. That is all there is to it.
Although I don't trust or expect govern- ments ever to do anything to help an in- dividual, this case involves not only Rothschild but every British subject; because if Rothschild loses his land the rest will follow. There are hundreds of Greeks right now rubbing their hands waiting for the final decision. Now I don't expect a Foreign Office which sold out Rhodesia to make any threatening noises against the Greeks. Nor do I think that anyone in Government would risk a cocktail party be- ing cancelled in order to issue an ultimatum. So I have this to propose. Let every British subject who is left dangling at the Greek government's mercy refuse to pay taxes to the Inland Revenue until he or she has recovered the amount stolen from them. If everyone did just that perhaps Her Majesty's civil servants and ministers would deal with the Papandreou regime the way they did with that of Galtieri. What I am afraid of, however, is that Papandreou will be dealt with as if he was Mugabe; and Rothschild as if he was Ian Smith. What is even more frustrating is the fact that there are people in England who insist on talking with the Greek government about the Elgin Marbles. My suggestion is as follows: make the Greeks pay an enormous amount for them — including an inflation clause for the last 200 years — and then renege on the deal. Being crooks they'll get the message.
Previous page
