More judicial probing into graft
A further judicial inquiry, this time by an Athens court of first instance, over bribery and match-fixing was prompted yesterday after wiretapped telephone conversations between club officials and referees were exposed by muckraking journalist Makis Triandafyllopoulos on his show on Alpha channel last Sunday night. Public prosecutor Sotiris Bagias has ordered a preliminary investigation intended to confirm whether the content of the wiretapped conversations includes punishable offenses that fall under the Athens court’s jurisdiction. Responding to the same show, a Piraeus prosecutor launched an investigation on Monday after viewers were presented with telephone conversations, made last season, between club officials and referees. Lambros Maris, a vice president of the Association of Professional Football Clubs (EPAE), was heard suggesting handing out yellow cards to PAOK players in a game against OFI, making them miss the following round’s clash against Panathinaikos. Panathinaikos defeated its Thessaloniki rival 5-2 away, which, in retrospect, was considered a pivotal result for the club’s gaining a berth in this season’s lucrative Champions League. Returning to the judicial investigations, the latest developments compound the unfinished business of the past. A pending case which dates back to last season has Thomas Mitropoulos, a former Olympiakos official, up for money laundering, blackmail and bribery, and remains unsettled. It had been instigated by the sports minister at that time, Giorgos Floridis. A sports tribunal handling a case of pitiful violence that erupted after a Panathinaikos-Olympiakos clash two weeks ago, has yet to announce a verdict. Officials and fans of the home team sent a bleeding referee to the locker rooms after Olympiakos converted a fair injury-time penalty to draw the match. According to sources, the cassette containing the recorded material televised on Sunday night’s show was handed over yesterday to the Piraeus Court of First Instance where its contents will be studied in further detail. The same sources said that, immediately afterward, the Piraeus court’s prosecutor will summon the tape’s key players to testify. The television journalist Triandafyllopoulos may also need to testify if this is deemed necessary, the sources added.
