Greek judges have cleared all 28 individuals accused of match fixing in the country’s football league, including ship and club owner Evangelos Marinakis, local media reported on Thursday.
The decision by an Athens felony court puts an end to a legal saga that began six years ago and removes a cloud that has been hanging over the 53-year-old entrepreneur, who owns the country’s top football club, Olympiacos.
The judges’ ruling was unanimous. Marinakis and his co-defendants had been indicted for the charge of match fixing in respect of two games, as well as for the attendant charge of joint criminal enterprise.
The owner denied any wrongdoing throughout and held that the issue has not affected his shipping business in any way.
Marinakis, who is the principal of Capital Ship Management and a shareholder of Diamond S Shipping, has been president of Olympiacos since 2010. His club has won all but two of the Greek football championships since then.
In 2017, Marinakis also bought English football club Nottingham Forest.
Co-defendants in the trial included several other Greek footballing bigwigs, including a former president and vice president of the Hellenic Football Federation, as well as club owners, referees and players.
Greek football and team sports in general are almost constantly the object of allegations of shenanigans, but that has not kept shipowners from being some of the most enthusiastic investors.
Several owners of shipping companies have invested in Greek football clubs over the past decades and still do to this day.
