Thread by @GTrapeziotis

Θρεντ
"Εμπόριο ηρωίνης, στήσιμο αγώνων-κανείς δεν μπορεί να ακουμπήσει τον ιδιοκτήτη του Ολυμπιακού, Μαρινάκη" ο τίτλος ολλανδικού ρεπορτάζ με αναφορά κ στη φιλία με Μητσοτάκη. Φαντάζομαι πως γράφουν ψέματα. Άλλωστε "μίλησε" η Δικαιοσύνη ε; nos.nl/l/t/2369200 μέσω @NOSsport

(το κείμενο στα αγγλικά)👇

He is a shipping and media magnate, a family friend of the Greek prime minister, de facto mayor of Piraeus, has been accused twice of match fixing and involvement in shipping a gigantic shipment of heroin. And all times came off unscathed.
The life of

Evangelos Marinakis, owner of Olympiakos, tonight's opponent of PSV in the Europa League, reads like a Greek crime novel.

Untouchable
Marinakis seems untouchable. There are many gaps in the law in Greece, from which powerful people benefit. And you don't get them much more

powerful than Marinakis in Greece. The 53-y.o multi-millionaire is a close friend of the Mitsotakis family who already provided two Greek prime ministers: Konstantinos, with whom Marinakis's father was already good friends, and Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the current prime minister.

This is indicative of the close bond between the two families: Marinakis witnessed the wedding of Dora Bakoyannis, the elder sister of Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Match fixing (x2)

Marinakis does not harm having powerful friends. Just under three weeks ago, he, like the other 27

involved, was acquitted in a major match-fixing case, which had taken almost six years and forced him to resign as chairman of Olympiakos at the end of 2017. Again acquitted in a major match-fixing case. In 2011, Marinakis was also a leading suspect in the Koriopolis scandal,

which spanned seven countries and led, among other things, to the blowing up of a reluctant referee's bakery. Even then the verdict was 'innocent'.

2,000 kilos of heroin

But the allegations of match manipulation, no matter how hard, are not even the most serious with which the

Olympiacos owner has been associated. His name also appeared in the case of Noor One, an oil tanker that transported the largest cargo of heroin in Europe's history. The Noor One had at least 2,000 kilos of heroin on board. To get an idea of ​​the size of the cargo, the special

drug dogs of the Greek police were "mad" in the raid on a warehouse, where 500 of the 2,000 kilos were found. "There was so much heroin that the dogs didn't know where to go," the chief of the local coast guard said later.
The interception of the drugs, which ultimately should

have been sold in the Netherlands and Belgium, had major consequences. In the aftermath, at least seventeen people involved were diverted on three continents. And two (former) prime ministers of Greece accused each other of having ties to heroin, including Marinakis' friend

Mitsotakis.

'1,000 kilos disappeared'

The two Greeks who should have benefited the most from the enormous drug load were Marinakis acquaintances. One of them even testified that the Noor One had carried not 2,000 but 3,000 kilos of heroin on board; the lost 1,000 kilos belonged

to Marinakis personally. To later withdraw that testimony.
The other repeated three times that the "real owners of the Noor One are hidden". Wiretaps enabled researchers to demonstrate that at least one other person was familiar with the Noor One and a major project under way

before the oil tanker left Dubai and set course for Greece: Marinakis.

Investigation halted

And there was more that pointed in the direction of the Olympiakos owner, but a lawsuit against Marinakis never came. A day after the multimillionaire was acquitted of match-fixing, the

investigation into his involvement in the heroin smuggling was also stopped. Did all the speculation about his possible involvement in the biggest heroin capture in Europe's history harm Marinakis in any other way? Not quite. His power and influence have only grown.
In 2017, he

bought two Greek newspapers and one of the country's main commercial channels, Mega Channel. His takeover of Nottingham Forest, fallen superpower in England, was also approved by the English Football League.
Marinakis dismissed the allegations of his involvement in the drug

trade as politically motivated. "Members of the government coalition have constantly attacked me."

The match-fixing allegations were fabrications of "jealous" opponents, who wanted to "destroy" his success with Olympiacos. Marinakis: "I have nothing to fear or worry about

because I haven't done anything wrong."

Welcome to the wonderful world of Evangelos Marinakis.