Greek Super League chief joins corruption list
Reuters - Friday 24 June 2011, 11:27
ATHENS - Super League and Olympiakos
Piraeus president Vangelis Marinakis and Greece defender Avraam
Papadopoulos were identified by the Athens prosecutor on Friday
for alleged involvement in match-fixing as the list of those
implicated in the scandal that has rocked Greek football grew.
Two Super League club presidents are already among 10 people
arrested in the last 48 hours in connection with the case, with
the authorities announcing the identities of another 70 people
against whom charges have been filed.
Marinakis, who took over the presidency of Olympiakos in
July 2010 and was appointed Super League chief in August 2010,
is accused of being involved in "simple collaboration with a
criminal organisation whose members seek financial or other
material benefit", and "simple collaboration in corruption,
altering the results [outcome] of matches.
Olympiakos issued a statement saying: "Concerning the
suspicious games it should be noted that all relate to the
2008/09 and 2009/10 seasons except one and Olympiakos are not
involved in any of these games. Also, Mr Marinakis was not
president of Olympiakos at the time."
"Secondly, in terms of what is said in the [recorded]
dialogues, there is no evidence of any crime, and thirdly we
must stress that Olympiakos monitor developments but our
priority is to build the team ahead of next season."
Papadopoulos, who plays for champions Olympiakos, was also
included in the list along with another high profile player,
Kostas Mendrinos, who is on the books of Aris Salonika.
The pair have been charged with breaching the "regulations
of OPAP (the state-owned betting company) and other provisions."
Greece Under-21 coach Giorgos Georgiadis, a former Greece
international, has also been identified and faces the same
category of accusations as Papadopoulos and Mendrinos.
The Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) was not immediately
available for comment with its general assembly in progress.
ROCK BOTTOM
Achilleas Beos of Olympiakos Volos and Kavala's Stavros
Psomiadis were arrested along with seven others on Wednesday on
charges of betting fraud before the authorities announced a list
of 15 people in total in a scandal dubbed "Koriopolis" by local
media.
In a further twist, Psomiadis's father Makis - a former
president of Kavala and AEK Athens - is among the people police
are searching for.
Legal proceedings are expected to begin on Monday.
The Greek government responded to the arrests by pledging to
get to the bottom of match-fixing allegations as part of a wider
effort to tackle corruption in the debt-ridden country.
"This investigation is an opportunity to recover from what
is the darkest page in the history of Greek football," Deputy
Culture Minister Giorgos Nikitiadis said on Thursday.
"It will go as deep and as high as necessary. Our basic
target now is to clean up the sport and give the people back the
game."
The Super League declined to comment with the investigation
continuing but AEK Athens president Stavros Adamidis said the
domestic game had reached "rock bottom."