Nottingham Forest and Olympiakos owner Evangelos Marinakis has been cleared of forming a match-fixing ring in Greece by the country’s Supreme Court, but may still face a bribery charge.
Greek media report the bribery allegations relating to match manipulation have been referred to a judicial council to determine whether or not to drop the charges against him.
Marinakis denies any wrongdoing.
The criminal division of Greece’s supreme court on Monday validated the acquittal of well-known Greek shipowner and football club owner Vangelis Marinakis on a handful of felony charges related to a lengthy investigation into match rigging.
Marinakis, who owns the popular Olympiacos Piraeus team in Greece and is the co-owner of iconic Nottingham Forest FC in England, was previously tried on charges of running a criminal enterprise, extortion and fraud. The indictment referred to alleged match fixing in Greece.
An appellate level council of justices had also previously acquitted Marinakis in case, whereby a relevant supreme court prosecutor filed a motion for appeal with the high court.
The extortion count was unanimously rejected by the court’s three justices; whereas the defendant’s acquittal on the criminal enterprise and fraud charges was validated via a 2-1 split decision. naftemporiki, bbc
