Olympiakos owner Evangelos Marinakis cleared of match-fixing scandal

Athens: Olympiakos owner Evangelos Marinakis was cleared for lack of evidence Thursday by the Council of Appeals of facing trial in the Greek match-fixing scandal of 2010-2011.

The court decided to bring to justice 85 of the 158 defendants in the case before a three-member court of appeals for felonies with charges ranging from felonies to misdemeanors.

Among those to face trial are Super League president Giorgos Borovilos, former Olympiakos Volos president and now mayor of Volos Achilleas Beos, Levadiakos president Giannis Kombotis, Asteras Tripolis owner Dimitris Bakos, Panthrakikos owner Thodoris Savvakis and president Dimitris Tzelepis, former Greece international defender Avraam Papadopoulos as well as other players, referees, betting brokers, managers and a former employee of the country`s football federation.

Marinakis, 47, last month was banned from participating in football related activities by a corruption investigating judge who is looking into another match-fixing scandal involving matches between 2011 and 2013.

Judge Giorgos Andreadis with a joint decision from prosecutors on the case also ordered Marinakis to place a 200,000 euros guarantee and informed him that he must report to a local police station every 15 days until a trial.

The ship-owner and businessman faces felony charges for his alleged involvement in the establishment of a criminal gang which fixed matches with relevance to relegation and promotion battles.

Marinakis has been at the helm of Olympiakos for the past five seasons leading the Piraeus club to five league titles and three doubles.

Besides Marinakis, among the 33 suspects of the 2011-2013 match-fixing scandal are are two other current owners of Super League teams, one former owner, two general managers, nine members of the country`s football federation, three members of the second division Football League committees, two former members of the referee`s selection committee, six active Super League referees and seven Super League players.

The new leftist government has introduced legislation to reform the federation and impose prison sentences of up to 10 years and fines of up to one million euros for corruption-related cases.