Prosecutor calls for Olympiakos boss to stand trial

A prosecutor has recommended that the boss of Olympiakos soccer club, Vangelis Marinakis, should stand trial for four felonies linked to an alleged “criminal gang” involved in match-fixing in the Greek league.

Stamatis Daskalopoulos also recommended that another 27 people – including members of the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO), club chairmen, referees and players – should stand trial over the same case. Stamatopoulos also suggested that Marinakis, a shipping magnate, should be placed in pretrial custody for repeatedly violating an order prohibiting his involvement in professional soccer.

The prosecutor’s recommendation, included in a 400-page report, came just days after Marinakis’s Alter Ego group secured one of four preliminary TV licenses in a government auction last week.

The Olympiakos strongman, who was also linked to a possible takeover of  English soccer club Nottingham Forest last week, dismissed the recommendation and said he will file a lawsuit against Daskalopoulos, charging that the judicial official was “following instructions” from state prosecutor Isidoros Doyiakos, “who was executing a contract” against him.

Marinakis may face charges of fraud, blackmail, match-fixing and for setting up, participating and leading a criminal organization whose members, the report said, would routinely intimidate referees to favor teams of their choice. From all this, the report concluded, “Olympiakos was the primary beneficiary – as well as its satellite teams.”