A reclusive 78-year-old man, whose corpse was found over the weekend in his Thessaloniki home surrounded by bank booklets attesting to an overall fortune of 1.3 million euros, had been dead for a year and a half, it was revealed yesterday.

The body of the man, identified only as A.H., was found on Saturday by a secondhand dealer who had entered the old house to scrounge for antiques as the structure is scheduled for demolition. On finding the old man’s mummified body on one of the beds, he notified police.

A medical examiner ruled that the man had died of natural causes, but an autopsy will be conducted to determine whether any criminal activity was involved.

A police search of the house unearthed a total of 30 bank books and bond purchase receipts under the bed which revealed that the old man had holdings of some 1.3 million euros.

They also found a dialysis machine he had used to treat his kidney problems. And, amid a stash of cheap furniture and bric-a-brac, officers discovered a wardrobe with 15 well-preserved suits.

“He hoarded his suits as he did his money but he lived like a tramp, rummaging through garbage,” a policeman said.

Indeed, despite his huge fortune, the elderly man, a former grain trader, had lived like a pauper, according to neighbors. “Whatever he acquired he put aside. He didn’t spend a penny. He even took his water from the neighborhood drinking fountain,” a local resident told police.

Officers have contacted the elderly man’s two brothers, who live in Athens and will likely inherit the 1.3-million-euro fortune.