One of the voices was a familiar figure in Greek football: Makis Psomiadis, owner of the second division team Kavala. Psomiadis is known for a big mustache, bigger cigars and a long history of run-ins with both the league and the law. These include charges of gold smuggling, embezzlement, blackmail, tax evasion and even a role in torture squads during Greece's notorious right-wing Junta of the 1970's.
He became a fugitive from justice on June 26th after he was charged in match-fixing. When he was apprehended two and a half months later, a judge promptly released him, even though he was also accused of failing to pay 300,000 euros in taxes.
This comes at a time when Greeks are being taxed to the gills and enduring pay cuts required by austerity measures aimed at keeping the country afloat and to get a series of 113 billion euros in bailout rescue loans from the EU-IMF-ECB Troika.
When an uproar prompted the courts to call Psomiadis back, he disappeared again, but not before announcing "I am a political prisoner." The judge, before questioning Psomiadis, read a statement the defendant handed him decrying the accusations. He wasn’t on the lam too long.
On November 9th, Psomiadis was arrested at a cafeteria in Macedonia, near the Greek consulate. Authorities said he was staying with a former player.
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