Marinakis and Olympiacos: 15 years of false allegations and the politics behind it
The attempt to further undermine the Rule of Law in Greece will fail
Until that day in 2010 when Vangelis Marinakis became the owner of Olympiakos FC he had never had any problems with the law - Not even a traffic violation ticket
Since Vangelis Marinakis became the owner of Olympiacos FC, the club has won two European Cups (Conference League and Youth League), 10 Greek Championships, 4 Greek Cups. Marinakis also bought Nottingham Forest FC and helped it return to the Premiere League where the team has had impressive results. Vangelis Marinakis is also the owner some oof Greece’s biggest and more trusted news and media outlets: Mega TV Channel, Ta NEA daily, To Vima Sunday paper, in.gr, ot.gr.
All this while being a successful and innovative ship-owner, running NYSE-listed companies. Until that day in 2010 when Vangelis Marinakis became the owner of Olympiakos FC he had never had any problems with the law. Not even a traffic violation ticket.
After that day he has faced all sorts of accusations. Yet he has been acquitted in all cases. He was acquitted by a judicial council decision for the “Coriopolis” match fixing case. For the supposed “criminal organization in Greek Football” he was acquitted by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in 2015, by Greek Football disciplinary bodies in 2020 and Greek Courts in 2021. As for the Noor 1 case, prosecutors have come to the conclusion that there is no evidence against him.
Now, Vangelis Marinakis is facing another series of unfounded accusations. He is being called by the Office of the Prosecutors to submit his explanations in relation to a potential accusation for “funding a criminal organization” in relation to the death of a police officer during a riot that followed a volley-ball match. The main argument of the prosecutors is that Olympiacos FC had given invitations to attend matches to some of the persons involved the riot. This is branded “funding a criminal organization”.
It is important to note that in all recent cases of serious violence directly associated with football, such as the 2020 murder of Tosko Bozadziski, the 2022 murder of Alkis Kampanos, and the 2023 murder of Michalis Katsouris, the owners of other football clubs were never accused of being part of a “criminal organization”.
To understand why Vangelis Marinakis is facing another round of unfounded accusations we need to look at the role that the Media owned by him play in the Greek public sphere.
Marinakis’s Media Group, Alter Ego Media SA, is the one offering the most balanced and objective approach to Greek politics, not hesitating to criticize the Greek government, when needed. In a country where governments have repeatedly attempted to put pressure upon media to tone down criticism and where journalists often face heavy law-suits and other obstacles to their work, this has made a difference.
It is no accident that when the recent eavesdropping scandal erupted, with strong evidence of government involvement, an attempt to wiretap Marinakis’s communications using illegal spyware was also revealed. This offers strong evidence of political motivation for the current wave of accusations against Marinakis, something also suggested by the timeline of events that led to the accusations.
On the 24th of March 2024 To Vima, a Sunday newspaper owned by Marinakis made the revealed that the recordings of communications before the Tempi tragedy, a trainwreck that cost 57 lives, had been tampered in a way to shift the investigation towards the individual responsibility of railway operating personnel, rather than the political responsibility of the government that had not managed to complete in time necessary railway safety works that would have averted the accident.
On the 22nd of April 2024, the sports violence division of Greek Police sent to the Office of the Prosecutors a 216-page preliminary report, making the unfounded assumption that the management of Olympiacos FC was involved in a criminal organization. It is difficult not to notice the correlation between the decision to implicate Olympiacos FC management in this criminal case and the fact that a a newspaper owned by Marinakis made a revelation that dealt a serious blow to the Greek government.
On the 17nth of November 2024, To Vima ran an interview with former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, a member of Parliament with the ruling New Democracy party, in which he was very critical of government policies. The reaction of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was to expel Samaras from New Democracy leading to the its biggest internal crisis in recent years.
On the 19th of November 2024, only two days afterwards, it was announced that Marinakis and other members of Olympiacos FC management have been called by the Office of the Prosecutors to submit their explanations in relation to potential accusations for “funding a criminal organization” and “inciting sports violence”.
All this makes a strong case for a political motivation behind the current accusations against Marinakis. However, as with all previous accusations against him, the new accusation will once again be proved groundless. The attempt to further undermine the Rule of Law in Greece will fail.
All this while being a successful and innovative ship-owner, running NYSE-listed companies. Until that day in 2010 when Vangelis Marinakis became the owner of Olympiakos FC he had never had any problems with the law. Not even a traffic violation ticket.
After that day he has faced all sorts of accusations. Yet he has been acquitted in all cases. He was acquitted by a judicial council decision for the “Coriopolis” match fixing case. For the supposed “criminal organization in Greek Football” he was acquitted by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in 2015, by Greek Football disciplinary bodies in 2020 and Greek Courts in 2021. As for the Noor 1 case, prosecutors have come to the conclusion that there is no evidence against him.
Now, Vangelis Marinakis is facing another series of unfounded accusations. He is being called by the Office of the Prosecutors to submit his explanations in relation to a potential accusation for “funding a criminal organization” in relation to the death of a police officer during a riot that followed a volley-ball match. The main argument of the prosecutors is that Olympiacos FC had given invitations to attend matches to some of the persons involved the riot. This is branded “funding a criminal organization”.
It is important to note that in all recent cases of serious violence directly associated with football, such as the 2020 murder of Tosko Bozadziski, the 2022 murder of Alkis Kampanos, and the 2023 murder of Michalis Katsouris, the owners of other football clubs were never accused of being part of a “criminal organization”.
To understand why Vangelis Marinakis is facing another round of unfounded accusations we need to look at the role that the Media owned by him play in the Greek public sphere.
Marinakis’s Media Group, Alter Ego Media SA, is the one offering the most balanced and objective approach to Greek politics, not hesitating to criticize the Greek government, when needed. In a country where governments have repeatedly attempted to put pressure upon media to tone down criticism and where journalists often face heavy law-suits and other obstacles to their work, this has made a difference.
It is no accident that when the recent eavesdropping scandal erupted, with strong evidence of government involvement, an attempt to wiretap Marinakis’s communications using illegal spyware was also revealed. This offers strong evidence of political motivation for the current wave of accusations against Marinakis, something also suggested by the timeline of events that led to the accusations.
On the 24th of March 2024 To Vima, a Sunday newspaper owned by Marinakis made the revealed that the recordings of communications before the Tempi tragedy, a trainwreck that cost 57 lives, had been tampered in a way to shift the investigation towards the individual responsibility of railway operating personnel, rather than the political responsibility of the government that had not managed to complete in time necessary railway safety works that would have averted the accident.
On the 22nd of April 2024, the sports violence division of Greek Police sent to the Office of the Prosecutors a 216-page preliminary report, making the unfounded assumption that the management of Olympiacos FC was involved in a criminal organization. It is difficult not to notice the correlation between the decision to implicate Olympiacos FC management in this criminal case and the fact that a a newspaper owned by Marinakis made a revelation that dealt a serious blow to the Greek government.
On the 17nth of November 2024, To Vima ran an interview with former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, a member of Parliament with the ruling New Democracy party, in which he was very critical of government policies. The reaction of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was to expel Samaras from New Democracy leading to the its biggest internal crisis in recent years.
On the 19th of November 2024, only two days afterwards, it was announced that Marinakis and other members of Olympiacos FC management have been called by the Office of the Prosecutors to submit their explanations in relation to potential accusations for “funding a criminal organization” and “inciting sports violence”.
All this makes a strong case for a political motivation behind the current accusations against Marinakis. However, as with all previous accusations against him, the new accusation will once again be proved groundless. The attempt to further undermine the Rule of Law in Greece will fail.
