Piraeus Mayor Yiannis Moralis testified before an investigative magistrate for three hours over his alleged involvement in a major case involving 167 defendants accused of being part of a criminal organization in Greek soccer.
The charges are misdemeanors and relate to supporting and financing a criminal organization, as well as inciting sports-related violence. After testifying, he was allowed to leave, without any imposed restrictions.
Moralis is among the five senior officials of Olympiakos soccer club summoned by the judicial authorities over the case. The others are Olympiakos President Evangelos Marinakis and vice presidents Kostas Karapapas, Dimitris Agrafiotis, and Michalis Kountouris.
The involvement of the mayor of Piraeus is traced – according to the investigator – to the hiring of eight individuals, some of whom hold leadership positions in the criminal organization.
In fact, the case file stated that “some of the leading members of the criminal organization are connected to Olympiakos by employment, while others have either been hired relatively recently and are working (sometimes without providing actual work) or have been employed in the past by the Municipality of Piraeus, whose mayor, Moralis, is also vice president of Olympiacos FC.”
According to information, Moralis denied his involvement in the case, saying “fixed-term contract employees are hired in municipalities based on the current law and the procedure provided for therein,” he said. “It is absolutely self-evident to everyone that no private company, and much less any public or municipal authority, can know how any employee behaves after leaving their job or service.”
The activities of this organization have also been linked to the death of a police officer late last year. The officer, 31-year-old Giorgos Lyngeridis, succumbed to his injuries in a hospital 20 days after being struck by a flare during an attack on riot police outside a volleyball stadium in Rentis, near Piraeus, on December 7, 2023.