Revelations about the “party” that, according to the authorities, was allegedly organized at the Hellenic Basketball Federation, headed by businessman Evangelos Liolios, are the testimonies of two protected witnesses.
The two individuals in question—a referee and a president of a second-division team—appeared before the prosecutor, explained that they had inside knowledge and asked to assist in the investigation on the condition that no criminal charges be brought against them.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
And so it was, since, as provided for by the relevant provision, under specific conditions, favorable criminal treatment is granted to individuals who have participated in criminal acts, but who contribute to the prevention of crimes or to the disclosure and punishment of those responsible.
“I
had hoped to play in the A1 league.”
More specifically, the active referee, in his testimony, referred to approximately 30 basketball games in that division for which, from 2018 to 2026, he claimed he received instructions from the accused businessman on how to call the game; in exchange, he did not receive money but continued to be assigned as a referee for important games.
Specifically, the witness described how he met Giorgos Mavraghanis (who has been arrested) in 2009 and how they began spending time together in 2011. As he said, two years before Mr. Liolos’s election as president of the Hellenic Basketball Federation (EOK), Mavraghanis mentioned Liolos’s name to him, saying: “Bet everything you’ve got that he’ll be the next president of the EOK.” In fact, he told him to place a bet on it—the odds at the time were 2.25—that he would become president.
The witness then noted that Mavraghanis confided in him that, through Liolios, he (Mavraghanis) would be the one in charge (Mavraghanis) and that he (the witness) would “skyrocket”—meaning he would play very frequently in A1 national league games—which, as he said, did not happen.
When asked whether he knew if Mr. Mavraghanis exercised any control over the relevant Referees’ Committee and, if so, how this was done, the witness answered in the affirmative, stating: “Yes, I know he controlled the KED, because every time I complained that I hadn’t been assigned to referee for three or four matchdays in the A2 league, I would call him and he would assign me to a game.”
When asked if he knew of any sports matches whose results had been altered through improper actions, he replied: “Yes, there are many such matches. During Mr. Liolos’s first year in office, their first priority was to ensure that no national-level team approached the referee directly, so that if a team wanted something, it would go directly to the Liolos administration – Mavragani. Any communication I had, I conducted with Mr. Mavragani, always with Mr. Liolos’s knowledge. During the second year of the Liolios administration’s competitive season, I was assigned to national-level matches every week. Referees were assigned every Monday or Tuesday. On Wednesdays, rarely on Thursday, would find out where we’d been assigned, and if they needed anything from me, Mr. Mavraghanis would call me via WhatsApp or Viber for more secure communication. If he didn’t need anything, he wouldn’t contact me.”
Closing
When asked what he meant by the phrase “if he wanted something, he’d contact me” and whether Mavraghanis had asked him for specific things, the witness answered in the affirmative: “Yes. Whether it was to help a team win or to benefit a particular player—for example, by calling a lot of fouls in his favor to boost his stats, especially for young athletes.”
At this point, the referee referred to an instance of manipulation allegedly requested of him by Mr. Mavraghanis with the aim of ensuring a victory for a school team from Patras, specifically the Anagennisi School.
As the man described, most of the players on Prometheus Patras B attend that school. Before the referees were assigned to that specific game, which took place on March 26–29, 2026 (the final phase of the school championship), Mr. Mavraghanis called him on the phone and asked if he wanted to go to Cyprus. He replied in the affirmative. The witness then called him and asked if he needed anything for the matches, to which he replied that he would let him know.
“He called me again that same day or the next and told me, ‘dust and ashes,’ meaning that Anagennisi had to win and take the championship. I had been assigned as a referee for both the semifinals and the finals of the boys’ and girls’ tournaments,” he noted.
When asked whether the referees for these matches were appointed by the KED, he replied: “The KED sent me to Cyprus, but the appointment was made by the corresponding KED in Cyprus. I delivered the results I was asked for as a referee, clearly favoring Anagennisi in both matches, which went on to win the championship. The semifinal was against the “Hellenic College of Thessaloniki” team. At the end of the final, there was a confrontation with a player from the opposing team, “Ypatia,” who insulted me. After those games, I returned to the hotel crying from remorse and said, “That’s it. If I don’t get what I’m entitled to (i.e., to be placed in Division A1), I won’t do this again.”
When asked why he agreed to rig the results of those specific matches, he replied that he had hoped to play in the A1 league.
“The money was wrapped in paper napkins.”
As for the second protected witness, he testified, among other things, that he received 50,000 euros from the then-president of Prometheus, Vangelis Liolios, as financial assistance to help the team advance. The witness also claimed that the accused referee was selected for the next match and was paid 5,000 euros to ensure the witness’s victory as a a “thank you” for the “favor” he had done for Vangelis Liolios.
The witness first described his acquaintance with the accused head of the Greek Basketball Federation (EOK).
“In October 2015, while (team name) and Promitheas Patras were rivals, I received a phone call for the first time from Mr. Evangelos Liolios saying he wanted to meet me. At that time, Mr. Liolios was President of Promitheas Patras. Our meeting took place on October 31, 2015—one day before the game between our teams—at a restaurant in Rio. There, Mr. Liolios expressed his appreciation for me, given FAROS’s strong performance in basketball, and began to outline his plans for the Prometheus team to me; we also discussed the sports center in Patras—which was very innovative for its time—and the NOUS program. Our conversation was very productive, and we agreed to collaborate regardless of the rivalry between our teams. The next day, the game went ahead as scheduled; we won, and, in fact, after the game, Prometheus issued a congratulatory statement. I was impressed by Mr. Liolios’s ideas, and we did, in fact, stay in touch. As that season progressed, it became clear from the start that our team would be promoted, while Prometheus had fallen to fourth place—the top two teams would move up to the A1 division.
»Throughout the year, we spoke regularly on the phone; he would consult me on various basketball-related matters, and at that time there was a heated rivalry, as reported in the media, with Ethnikos Piraeus, which finished in third place in the regular season. Shortly before the playoffs began, Mr. Liolios invited me to meet him at a café on the Acropolis. He was clearly determined for his team to move up to A1 and convert it into a professional basketball club, because in A2 it was an amateur club and he wanted, through the professional club, ensure that player salaries and all team expenses were accounted for, since in an amateur club, player salaries and expenses weren’t recorded anywhere (they weren’t processed through banks). He wanted to justify the expenses.
“My response was that, since I’m the only one in charge of the team and I neither have the capacity nor the desire to run a professional basketball club without a partner, I—despite the team’s impending promotion—would have the team withdraw from the promotion. Therefore, I told him that what he should be concerned about is beating (the Piraeus team). I explained to him that (the witness’s team) would beat Prometheus because they were the better team and already had two wins from the regular season, and all (team) was one win in the upcoming three games, two of which were at (team)’s home court, where they were undefeated. Then Mr. Liolios asked me: “Can you help Prometheus get past (the Piraeus team)?” because, as I pointed out above, relations between the two teams were very poor. What I told him was that, as far as I know, the officials of (the Piraeus team) were in a difficult financial situation and did not have the financial resources to cope with a promotion to a higher division and the establishment of a professional basketball club.”
The witness then stated that a meeting was scheduled four hours before the game at his home, attended by Mr. Liolios and an executive from the Piraeus team’s basketball department.
“The conversation went as follows: ‘Listen, my boy, since you don’t have the money to compete for promotion and form a professional basketball club, just let today’s game go—I’m here for you.’ That’s what Mr. Liolios said. No monetary compensation was offered. The response from the gentleman (a Piraeus team official) was: ‘While I could ask you for compensation, I won’t. All I can say is that we won’t be competing in this game, and I want us to have a good relationship.” I vouched for good relations going forward and said that Mr. Liolios is the future of basketball—let’s let him move forward, since we don’t have the financial means for that. The meeting ended, and Prometheus won the game (score 60–68), advancing to the final to play against (the witness’s team). We met the next day, June 9, 2016, again at a coffee shop on the Acropolis, where he thanked me for my help, saying, “Let’s get down to business.” He asked me, “Does what we agreed on—that you’d back down—still stand?” My response was, “Of course, what we agreed on still stands; I just want to discuss the following: that if Prometheus doesn’t move up a division, you’ll have to pay 300,000 euros to buy another basketball club, which will have a different home arena and a different tax ID number. “As for me, once we secure the spot, I’ll step back—I’ll give up the promotion—I just want 100,000 euros to settle all the financial obligations that the (witness’s team) had.”.
“His response (meaning Mr. Liolios’) was, ‘I can give you 150,000 euros, but I’d like the series to go 3–2, (meaning that (team) would lose three games, so that Prometheus’s promotion would be certain (without (team) being promoted and then withdrawing), so that you could avoid paying the bonuses you’d have to give (team)’s players for promotion.”
My response was 100% against going to tell my players to lose; that we’d done everything we could, and we’d make our own history by moving up a division. I told him: “If you want it to happen the way I suggested—my proposal was clear.” He replied, “How can I be sure that you’ll keep your word and give up promotion?” My response was: “You can’t be sure, but I’m not asking you for anything until it happens.” The meeting ended calmly, though he wasn’t particularly satisfied. In the end, the team beat Prometheus and was promoted to the A1 division. That evening, after the game, Mr. Liolios sent me a congratulatory message, writing, “I hope you’ll keep your word.” I replied that we were going to celebrate our success at a bouzouki club and that he’d see starting tomorrow. The next morning, it was reported that, according to sources, the team was declining promotion to the A1 division. Over the next few days, the official announcement was released. After the announcement, Mr. Liolios called me on the phone, thanked me for keeping my word, and told me he would let me know within the next three days when and where I should go to pick up the money we had agreed upon (100,000 euros). On June 20, 2016, I went to the headquarters of a coffee company on Kifissias Avenue, where the coach (name) handed me the money in a bag in his office, saying, “This money is for you, as we agreed. Vangelis couldn’t make it.” The money was wrapped in paper napkins. I took it and left. Afterward, I called Mr. Liolios to thank him. He, in turn, thanked me for keeping my promise.”
The witness then stated that through Mr. Liolios he met Mr. Mavragani and that they began devising a plan to secure Mr. Liolios’s election as president of the EOK.
“We began devising a plan for how Mr. Liolios would win the 2020 EOK elections, how we would recruit clubs to vote for him, and how we would begin an informal recruitment drive for referees. Mr. Mavragani’s reasoning was that we needed to find allies. The first referee he put me in touch with was the current refereeing advisor at the KED and then-international referee, Ilias Koromilas, who had come to terms with the fact that his career was coming to an end due to the age limit, and, seeing that things were about to change at the Hellenic Basketball Federation (EOK), clearly wanted to lead the new refereeing structure and would help recruit referees. From then on, a steady stream of referees began visiting Mr. Mavragani’s offices. Mr. Liolios was kept informed of all this; as the future President of the EOK, he wanted to control the referees so that Prometheus would be favored.”
When asked if he knew whether there had been any manipulation or attempted manipulation of the result in a specific basketball game, through improper or illegal actions, the witness referred to a 2018 game in which the arrested referee, Piloidis, also participated.
“Mavraghanis told me that he was in contact with Mr. Piloidis, whom I met on March 15, 2018, at the hotel café on the ground floor. He told me that he also had influence over Mr. (referee’s name)—whom I had never met—and asked me to give Mr. Piloidis asked me for an advance payment of 5,000 euros so that (team) would win. Since I had come prepared—I had brought the money with me—I gave it to him in an envelope, after first going to the restroom to count out the exact amount of 5,000 euros. He was surprised by how quickly I’d done it and, smiling, told me, “At the game the day after tomorrow, I’ll give you a gift—you’ll see.” The “gift” had to do with Panagiotis Giannakis, the coach of Aris, with whom he had a strained relationship. He ejected him with two technical fouls before halftime—something extremely rare, especially for a coach of Mr. Giannakis’s stature. When he sent him off, he turned toward where I was sitting and gave me a wink. The Larissa fans applauded Mr. Giannakis as he left, acknowledging the unfairness of his punishment.”
Another meeting followed regarding a different match, in which the witness and Mr. Mavraghanis participated. “Mr. Piloidis was again appointed referee for the match (-) along with Ms. Vasso Tsaroucha; we first met with Mr. Piloidis and Mr. Mavraghanis at a coffee shop on Amalias Street, where we told him about the game (-) that we wanted a draw so that the (team) could stay up; he told us that he was also in charge of Tsaroucha and that it would be 5,000 each. We told him that, provided (team) won, he would receive the money he asked for. (Team) won thanks to a refereeing decision, and, in fact, the opposing team was forced to issue a protest statement at halftime. Afterward, we met at my home, where Mr. Piloidis received 5,000 from me for himself and 5,000 for Mrs. Tsaroucha.”
The following excerpt from the witness’s testimony regarding Ms. Tsaroucha’s demands is also striking: “In the summer of 2018, Ms. Tsaroucha sent me a message saying, ‘With all due respect, can you arrange for me to stay at a luxury hotel as well?’ I said, ‘I’ll take care of it,’ and I called Mr. Mavragani, explained what had happened, and he told me, ‘Take care of it—we’ll split the cost 50-50.’ I made the reservation on July 27, 2018, for a stay from September 6, 2018, to September 9, 2018, at a cost of 351.70 per night. After her stay, Ms. Tsaroucha thanked me very much for the gift. At that time, I was managing (the team), which was competing in the A2 division and fighting for promotion. Liolios, Mavragani, and I had agreed that it would be good for (team) to move up as well, so that we would have one more team integrated into the “system.”
*photo source: KYPE
