Greece requests assistance in match-fixing probe

AUTHORITIES said yesterday they have received a formal request from Greek authorities seeking assistance in tracing accounts belonging to people allegedly involved in a match-fixing scandal that erupted in June.

More than 60 individuals including club officials, players and businessmen are being investigated by authorities in Greece after UEFA – the European football governing body — submitted a list of 41 matches it said were under suspicion to the Greek federation (EPO).

The list included games from the top flight and the second division over the last three seasons, as well as several Greek Cup matches.

Greek authorities want Cyprus to trace bank accounts belonging to certain individuals and check whether there had been any suspicious money transfers.

The list of names furnished by Greek authorities is believed to include Cypriots, though this could not be immediately confirmed.

The two Greek teams at the centre of the match-fixing investigations – Olympiacos Volos and Kavala — were relegated last week to division four.

Volos chairman Achilleas Beos, in prison pending trial for his alleged involvement in the scandal, and former Kavala owner Makis Psomiadis, also identified by the Athens prosecutor in the probe, last month received life bans from football.

Documents leaked in Greece in June contained transcripts of recorded telephone conversations intercepted by authorities allegedly between corrupt team officials deciding match results, using players and referees.

Bets on the allegedly fixed games were placed online or with betting agencies in Greece, Europe and Asian countries, according to the document.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.