Greece Freezes Basketball Federation Funding as Bribery Suspects Get Time to Testify

By Taki Panos

If anyone hoped the Greek basketball scandal would calm down after a night's sleep, Thursday ended that hope quickly. On October 22, 2026, Deputy Sports Minister Giannis Vroutsis temporarily suspended state funding to the Hellenic Basketball Federation (EOK) and ordered financial audits, while the six people arrested in the bribery investigation, federation president Vangelis Liolios among them, appeared at the Evelpidon courts in Athens and were given time to prepare their defense, as Sport24 and Gazzetta reported.

For anyone catching up, we covered the arrest of Liolios on Wednesday. In short, police arrested six people over alleged interference in the outcome of basketball games: the federation president, referees, a refereeing official and a businessman. Sport24 and Eurohoops reported that investigators are looking at roughly 50 games across a decade, from 2016 to 2026, most of them in the lower divisions rather than the top flight. Everyone involved is presumed innocent, and the defendants deny the charges.

Thursday morning was about procedure. The six arrived at court and, as expected, their lawyers asked for more time, which the investigating magistrate granted, Eurohoops reported. Sport24 said all six requested and received the standard deadline to give their testimony. Gazzetta reported that they left the courthouse a little after noon and will remain in custody at Athens police headquarters until they testify, and Eurohoops added that the authorities consider there is a risk of flight.

The testimony will come in three waves. According to Gazzetta and Eurohoops, a retired referee is due before the magistrate on Friday, October 23, at 1:00 PM. Liolios and the businessman are scheduled for Sunday, October 25, at 10:00 AM, and the remaining three, including an active EuroLeague referee, follow on Monday, October 26, at 10:30 AM. So the next few days will matter a great deal, and probably the decisions that come after Monday even more.

The government's move was the big headline of the afternoon. In a statement carried by both Sport24 and Gazzetta, the ministry said Vroutsis had "decided to temporarily suspend the grants provided by law to the Hellenic Basketball Federation" (translated from Greek). He also requested an extraordinary fiscal and management audit of the EOK for 2024, 2025 and 2026 by the finance ministry's audit directorate, plus a separate financial review by the National Transparency Authority. Freezing a federation's money is about as clear a signal as a ministry can send.

The statement also included a reminder that carries weight. In cases of match-fixing, the ministry said, there are clear financial penalties on top of any criminal or disciplinary consequences, through the annual share of betting revenue that the sports ministry distributes to sports bodies, per Sport24 and Gazzetta. In plain terms, sports federations and clubs in Greece rely on that money, and the government is making sure everyone understands it can be reduced if wrongdoing is proven.

Then there is the money police say they found. In its official statement, the Hellenic Police said 931,463 euros in cash were seized from the suspects' homes, along with 14 mobile phones, six laptops, 22 USB drives, tablets, memory cards and some team shirts and memorabilia, Sport24 and Eurohoops reported. Sport24 added that 820,000 euros of that was found at the home of one accused referee, and that the country's anti-money laundering authority has been informed so it can look into where the money came from.

How did the case come together? Sport24 and Eurohoops both reported that two key witnesses, who have admitted taking part themselves, gave investigators detailed accounts and have been granted protected status. Sport24 wrote that one of them, an active referee, described receiving instructions on about 30 second-division games between 2018 and 2026. The defense, of course, says those witnesses cannot be trusted. That is exactly the kind of question a court exists to answer, not a group chat.

One allegation reaches well beyond Greece. Gazzetta, citing a report on Mega, said former Ukrainian international referee Mykola Ambrosov told investigators that a Greek refereeing official offered him 10,000 euros to help UNICS Kazan against Monaco in the 2021 EuroCup final series. Sport24 reported the same testimony, describing it as one of nine witness statements in the case file. It is an allegation, not a finding, but if it holds up it would turn a domestic scandal into a European one.

The defense pushed back hard. Liolios's lawyer, Panagiotis Papaioannou, told reporters the case is a "badly staged conspiracy" and argued that the arrest warrant was legally void, Gazzetta and Eurohoops reported (translated from Greek). The lawyer for two of the accused referees said they deny the charges outright, per Gazzetta and Eurohoops. On the other side, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, the lawyer for Maroussi, whose complaint in April set things moving, told a press conference that the charges are built on written messages, Sport24 and Gazzetta reported.

The basketball world reacted too. Olympiacos coach Giorgos Bartzokas, speaking at media day before Friday's EuroLeague game against Fenerbahce, said: "These are very strong revelations that shake Greek basketball" (translated from Greek), adding that he and his team stand for transparency and legality, per Sport24 and Gazzetta. Panathinaikos guard Kendrick Nunn went further on Instagram, commenting under photos of the seized cash that he wants his trophies back, with all due respect, Gazzetta and Sport24 reported.

My take: two things can be true at once. Nobody has been convicted of anything, and the people accused deserve a fair hearing, which is exactly what the next five days are for. But a ministry freezing a federation's funding, close to a million euros in seized cash and a foreign referee describing a bribe at a European final add up to a crisis Greek basketball cannot shrug off. Whatever the courts decide, the sport needs refereeing and governance that fans and players can trust, in a country whose clubs include the reigning EuroLeague champions.

Next up: the first testimony on Friday, Liolios on Sunday and the final three on Monday. In between, the games go on, with Panathinaikos hosting Baskonia in the EuroLeague tonight and Olympiacos facing Fenerbahce at home on Friday at 9:15 PM. Keep an eye on our Greek Sports section as this story develops. It is far from over.

Sources: Sport24, Gazzetta, Eurohoops, Mega.

Image: Flag of Greece, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).