Testimony begins today in the basketball scandal involving allegations of match-fixing and the involvement of officials and referees.
The six defendants, including the president of the Basketball Federation, Vangelis Liolios, current and former referees, as well as sports officials, remain in custody at the Athens Police Headquarters (GADA) at least until their initial court appearances. They deny the charges against them and claim they are waiting to see the indictment, be briefed on the details, and respond to each charge individually.
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The first to appear in court today at 1:00 p.m. will be the accused former referee, Petros Papapetrou, who retired from active duty last summer and in whose home the large sum of 820,000 euros was found. The defendant states that “this specific amount is accounted for by my regular earnings from basketball, as I was an international referee, a referee in the EuroLeague and in the Greek basketball leagues, and I have all the financial records to substantiate it.”
The president of the Basketball Federation, Vangelis Liolios, and his business partner, George Mavraghanis, will present their defense at 10 a.m. on Sunday. On Monday, the remaining three—the only active referee among the defendants, Vaso Tsaroucha, and two former referees—KED member Tasos Piloidis and special refereeing advisor Ilias Koromilas.
Vangelis Liolios also denies the charges against him, which, according to reports, describe 49 instances of bribery, with five matches specifically detailing monetary amounts given, at the instruction of the Federation president, to specific individuals. He maintains his innocence, stating that he has been involved in a long-standing legal dispute with specific individuals and figures in the basketball community.
If the president of the Hellenic Basketball Federation (EOK) is indicted for criminal offenses, he will automatically be removed from the office of president. In that case, the Hellenic Basketball Federation’s Board of Directors will be called upon, if it so intends, to elect a new president from among its members; otherwise, the federation will be placed under the administration of the Court of First Instance until elections are announced and held. The current administration’s term runs through September 2028.
Yesterday, Sports Minister Yiannis Vroutsis temporarily suspended subsidies to the Hellenic Basketball Federation in the wake of the revelations. At the same time, an extraordinary financial and administrative audit of the Federation is being initiated, with retroactive effect from 2024. In addition, a request has been made for the National Transparency Authority to conduct a financial and administrative audit.
*photo source: AP
