By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
A significant development has emerged in Greece’s bribery and match-fixing scandal, as legendary figure Panagiotis Giannakis has requested to testify in support of the prosecution.
The former player and coach, also known as the Dragon, is expected to appear in court on Monday. His name was mentioned in a witness statement.
His attorney, Andreas Mitsainas, revealed on Friday that 67-year-old Giannakis intends to clear the air regarding recent reports in Greece about officiating calls directed against him.
“You know that Mr. Giannakis is a legend of Greek basketball. This whole situation is a dark cloud over Greek basketball. And he will personally contribute to exposing what took place, including what was done against him,” he mentioned.
The broader judicial probe spans a ten-year window from 2016 to 2026. It involves six suspects, including Hellenic Basketball Federation president Vangelis Liolios and EuroLeague referees. They face charges of bribery and unfair interference across roughly 50 suspicious games.
Olympiacos fires back at Panathinaikos
The fallout extended to Olympiacos formally issuing a response to archrival Panathinaikos Aktor. Friday’s statement serves as a direct rebuttal to recent remarks attempting to tie the Reds to the ongoing match-fixing investigation.
Olympiacos firmly denied any involvement, clarifying that the club’s name does not appear anywhere in the case files.
Shifting the focus to systemic officiating issues, the club stated that while Panathinaikos fights for ‘100-0 bias’, Olympiacos remains committed to a ‘50-50’ standard of fairness.
They also advised the Greens to ‘be careful what you wish for’ because ‘if what was actually stolen is returned, your team’s trophy cabinet and that famous little table in Sounio will be filled with spiders instead of trophies’.
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