Letter to the President of the Hellenic Basketball Federation Mr. Vassilakopoulos
On Thursday, February 6, 2014, the owners of Olympiacos BC Mr. Panagiotis and Mr. Giorgos Angelopoulos addressed the following letter to the President of the Hellenic Basketball Federation Mr. Georgios Vassilakopoulos.
The letter...
Mr. Vassilakopoulos,
In view of reports published in print and electronic media in regard to the “unknown” benefactor of the amount of 830,000€ as to the acquisition of the infamous Wild Card, we would ask that you immediately let us know his name and the origin of the money so that no shadows are cast over Greek Basketball and the National Team. We would also like to draw your attention to the fact that according to this publications but also your own statements, there are huge questions that both we and the public would like answered, given the fact that the money do not come from the State neither from the sponsoring Bank (apart from a minimum amount!).
All the more, only days ago you had publicly stated in regard to the bidding set by FIBA for the allocation of the Wild Card:
“If someone was to make a big donation, we would not be able to so something of the kind both for monetary reasons but also for reasons of morality” (December 17, 2013 during an event by the local Federation Dept. of Crete).
What is it exactly that has changed since then?
Is it maybe that the money of any kind of sponsorship was acquired following your statements on December 17?
We would like to believe that transparency and credibility are values instilled in the Hellenic Basketball Federation and that’s why you are going to give all necessary clarifications, just like you had publicly committed to do.
We would hereby like to wish the Greek National Team all success so that Greek basketball returns to its rightful place.
Looking forward to your immediate response,
Panagiotis and Giorgos Angelopoulos