Olympiakos owner Marinakis banned from football activities
ATHENS: Olympiakos owner Evangelos Marinakis was banned from participating in football related activities Thursday after his seven-hour testimony before a corruption investigating judge who is looking into a major match-fixing scandal.Judge Giorgos Andreadis with a joint decision from prosecutors on the case also ordered Marinakis to place a 200,000 euros
By our correspondents
June 19, 2015
ATHENS: Olympiakos owner Evangelos Marinakis was banned from participating in football related activities Thursday after his seven-hour testimony before a corruption investigating judge who is looking into a major match-fixing scandal. Judge Giorgos Andreadis with a joint decision from prosecutors on the case also ordered Marinakis to place a 200,000 euros guarantee and informed him that he must report to a local police station every 15 days until a trial. The ship-owner and businessman faces felony charges for his alleged involvement in the establishment of a criminal gang which fixed matches. The investigation is centred on alleged fixing of matches between 2011 and 2013 with relevance to relegation and promotion battles. Marinakis was previously implicated in another match-fixing scandal in 2010-11 which is still the subject of investigation. Thursday marked the fifth anniversary since Marinakis’ takeover of the Piraeus club in which he has celebrated five league titles and three doubles. Marinakis, 47, was the last of the 33 suspects questioned by Andreadis the last two months. The other suspects are two other current owners of Super League teams, one former owner, two general managers, nine members of the country’s football federation, three members of the second division Football League committees, two former members of the referee’s selection committee, six active Super League referees and seven Super League players. Only 10 of the suspects did not receive any restrictions from Andreadis. On Wednesday former football federation president Giorgos Sarris was banned from leaving the country, ordered to place a 50,000 euros guarantee and prohibited from getting involved in football activities of any kind until a trial. Sarris had resigned as president of the federation last December under pressure generated by the match-fixing scandal. He faces felony charges for his alleged involvement in the establishment of a criminal gang which fixed Greek matches. The investigating judge will now turn over his report on the suspects to a judicial council which will decide who is to be placed on trial.