ARSENAL’S Champions League opponents Olympiakos come to the Emirates on Wednesday under the shadow of a huge match-fixing scandal.
By ANTONY KASTRINAKIS
Olympiakos owner Vangelis Marinakis is still facing a criminal prosecution 15 months after Greek football was engulfed in controversy.
Gunners fans will be stunned to learn the man sitting only a few feet away from their chief executive Ivan Gazidis in the Emirates VIP stands is facing prosecution for rigging matches.
The Greek side’s president Marinakis is also set to take a seat alongside Arsenal’s Gazidis at the customary pre-match dinner between the clubs’ boards.
He has always vigorously protested his innocence.
Yet over a year after the charges were brought he has yet to be interrogated by the investigator who will decide whether to indict Marinakis.
The Olympiakos owner has said: “The case of fixed matches does not concern nor touch us.
“As for the proposal to bring charges against me I state categorically there is absolutely no evidence that proves any offence.”
Marinakis is charged with ‘being part of a criminal gang’ and ‘participating in the offering of bribes’.
He is only able to fly to London to accompany Arsenal’s rivals because a travel ban imposed on him by the Greek State was lifted as he was deemed unlikely to flee the country.
Authorities have to question Marinakis on his alleged links with the man accused of acting as the ‘ring-leader’.
Greece’s National Intelligence Service bugged the phones of suspects following a UEFA report on ‘corrupt’ matches in Greece.
Around 39,000 conversations were recorded and delays in the judicial investigation may be occurring because officials await the huge number of transcripts.
A total of 83 people were charged, among them players, club officials and illegal bookmakers.
The majority have yet to be quizzed. Three people are already in jail awaiting trial.
Olympiakos, Greece’s most popular club, have won 14 national championships in the last 16 years.
Their centre-half Avraam Papadopoulos was also caught up in the scandal after two bookies were recorded talking about him. The two were arrested and released on bail.
Papadopoulos faces charges for ‘illegal betting, fraud and money-laundering’.
He has also strenuously denied any involvement and has been eager to appear in front of the authorities to clear his name.
The Greece international was injured in Euro 2012 and will not feature against Arsenal.
Greek football has for many years been tainted by violence between rival sets of fans, most of which is deemed to be the result of poor refereeing decisions.
Last week the Greek Federation defied its own constitution and the country’s top two leagues ignored their own rulebook to allow three top-flight clubs that had been expelled from professional football to be reinstated in the second tier.
Two of them were relegated in connection to the match- fixing scandal a year ago and the third for tax fraud.
