his presidency the basketball club won five Greek championships, three Greek Cups and one Euroleague in 1997, making the Triple Crown the same year. He was also for 18 years, until 30 December 2010, owner and chairman of the Greek football club Olympiacos FC. He took the club after the difficult years of the Koskotas scandal and managed to bring it back in success. During his tenure the club won 12 top division titles, five Greek Cups, and one Greek Super Cup. It was also during his chairmanship that Olympiacos leased from the Greek state for a period of 50 years and reconstructed their homeground Karaiskakis Stadium. It was until that time used by Olympiacos and other Piraeus clubs strictly on a rental basis, and undertook a complete rebuilding of the stadium itself. Controversies German authorities' investigations in the Stasi archives found a 350-page report referring to agent "Rocco" ("953/63") and later "Kaskade" and "Krokus". It was alleged that "Rocco" was the code name for Sokratis Kokkalis, allegedly recruited on 25 January 1963. Kokkalis was alleged to have subsequently bribed Greek officials for the national telecommunications company of Greece to purchase East German telecommunications equipment. The German Federal Parliament, conducted a detailed investigation and concluded in 1998, that there has been no evidence linking Kokkalis activities and his companies to East Germany. Kostas Tsimas, a former chief of the Greek intelligence service (EYP) and very close friend of former Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, stated that Kokkalis is "a Greek patriot", who "worked for Greek national interests in the Balkans and elsewhere". Kokkalis was criticized by Greek and international media about his activities in Russia, where his company Intralot had sold lottery equipment, technological know-how and software. However, no formal charges were ever filed for any Intralot representative, and the Russian government expressed its trust in Kokkalis and Intralot. Extensive criticism was also received in the Romanian press by Kokkalis and the companies Intralot and Intracom for allegedly bribing Romanian officials into signing and extending contracts between the Greek firms and the Romanian Lottery that were thoroughly disadvantageous for the Romanian side, with losses totalling up to 1bn Euros as of April 2014. Honours Kokkalis was made a John Harvard fellow in 1997, and received awards from The Fulbright Foundation and the American Academy of Achievement for "his leadership in creating educational opportunities and building bridges of cooperation." References External