Vangelis Liolios Rejects Charges in His Defense

Vangelis Liolios, facing 49 charges related to match manipulation allegations, rejected all of the charges in a defense text he prepared before being arrested. Liolios stated that there is an effort to intimidate him and that he has not claimed to have committed any crime in any form.

According to press reports, the former president of the Greek Basketball Federation also claimed that he was subjected to blackmail during the investigation into him. In his defense, he argued that the documents in the file contain no concrete evidence and that the charges are vague and unproven.

Liolios wrote that he did not meet with any referee outside of institutional meetings, that he had no special relationship with referees, and that therefore there was no contact. He also emphasized that none of the news reports or websites in the file contain any information that he met with a referee.

In the defense, he further accused Dimos Stasinopoulos, whose name appears in the allegations, of blackmail, and claimed that Stasinopoulos had demanded illegal benefits from him before. Using harsh words about other witnesses as well, Liolios described the statements about one referee as entirely unfounded.

Finally, noting that he has a close relationship with Ilias Papatheodorou, the coach of Amarousio club, Liolios reminded that the coach did not mention any intervention incident in his statement. Regarding a message attributed to him that contains referee names, he argued that it dates to a period when the referees had already been assigned, and that this does not imply any coordination.