Sokratis Kokkalis

Sokratis Kokkalis
Born	1939-05-27 Athens, Greece
Occupation	Entrepreneur
Known for	Founder and main shareholder of Intracom Holdings; former president of Olympiacos F.C. and Olympiacos B.C.

Sokratis Kokkalis (Greek: Σωκράτης Κόκκαλης; born 1939) is a prominent Greek entrepreneur and the founder as well as the main shareholder of Intracom Holdings.

He is the son of Petros Kokkalis and spent his early years as a political exile in East Germany until 1965, when he permanently returned to Greece.

During the 1990s and early 2000s, Intracom emerged as a leading Greek corporation, predominantly serving the public sector's IT needs. Its portfolio included upgrading the Greek telecommunications infrastructure, implementing the nationwide "TAXIS" tax administration system, building OPAP’s online network framework, supporting mobile phone operators, providing IT resources for the 2004 Athens Olympics, and engaging in railway and highway construction ventures.

Kokkalis became widely known after purchasing Olympiacos F.C. in 1993 at a challenging time for the club. Throughout his decade-long leadership, he rejuvenated Olympiacos and established a solid base for its subsequent achievements on the European stage.

In 2001, Forbes placed him at number 421 on its list of global wealthiest individuals, estimating his fortune at approximately US$1.2 billion.

He attracted criticism over non-transparent agreements with government entities and faced legal proceedings that were eventually dismissed. Due to his close connections with state-reliant companies, he was dubbed "the supplier of the Nation." Additionally, Kokkalis was frequently linked to political corruption and intertwined interests within Greece from 1980 to 2000.

Biography

Born in Athens on 27 May 1939, Kokkalis was the firstborn of Petros Kokkalis (1896-1962), a distinguished medical doctor, and Niki Kouletsi (1913-1997), an academic educator. The family fled Greece amid political turmoil during the Greek Civil War, initially relocating to Romania before settling in East Berlin. He pursued physics studies at Humboldt University of Berlin with a focus on telecommunications and electronic engineering and worked as an electronics engineer at Deutscher Fernsehfunk starting in 1963.

Following his father’s passing in 1962, he briefly returned to Greece and began establishing connections with local business figures. In 1965, supported politically, he reclaimed Greek citizenship and initiated commercial activities bridging East Germany and Greece.

Kokkalis married twice: initially in 1969 to Sophia Skouras (daughter of film industry magnate Spyros Skouras), with whom he had a son, Petros S. Kokkalis (born 1970); later to Eleni Farmaki-Kokkali, with whom he fathered two sons, Konstantinos (born 1982) and Socratis Jr. (1984–2018). Socratis Jr. passed away in 2018 due to drug-related causes.

Business

Kokkalis commenced his commercial ventures in Greece in 1967 by founding "Boudouris-Kokkalis OHG" ("GIMEX"), focusing on trading electrical engineering goods and transportation equipment while representing East German firms RTF and Elektrotechnik. After dissolving this partnership in 1974, he established "INTEGRA" followed by "INTRAKOM S.A." in 1977 alongside Konstantinos Dimitriadis. Initially assembling telecommunications parts, Intrakom expanded into designing and manufacturing telecom products by reinvesting profits.

The rise of PASOK in 1981 enhanced Kokkalis’s privileged access to government officials due to longstanding affiliations. This relationship facilitated Intrakom’s involvement in modernizing Greece’s national telecommunications system through collaborations with multinational corporations such as Siemens. Contracts with OTE generated cumulative revenues estimated near EUR 2 billion over time.

In 1992, he launched subsidiary INTRALOT, which commenced operations with OPAP amid scrutiny over contract transparency that triggered judicial inquiries. INTRALOT managed OPAP's "KSISTO" scratchcard game from 1993 until 2003, handling approximately 800 billion drachmas throughout that decade. In 1999, its subsidiary assumed control over OPAP’s football betting game "PAME STOIXIMA," producing substantial income.

By the year 2000, group revenues reached €242 million; this figure increased to €317 million by 2003 across multiple sectors including international markets.

In 2013, Kokkalis resigned from Intracom's board and chairmanship roles, succeeded by executive Dimitris Klonis; concurrently, his son Konstantinos joined the board. Following liquidity difficulties and the death of his son Socratis Jr., Kokkalis returned as executive chairman in 2019.

His approach involved restructuring Intracom through divestments of subsidiaries like INTRAKAT, INTRASOFT International, and INTRAKOM DEFENCE, repositioning Intracom Holdings as a publicly listed private equity firm focused on investments amid a transition toward financial capitalism.

Olympiacos CFP

In 1991, Kokkalis assumed the presidency of Olympiacos' basketball division during a period of growing enthusiasm for the sport following Greece’s success at EuroBasket. His leadership saw the appointment of key personnel that secured five straight Greek league titles from 1993 to 1997, alongside three cup victories and the prestigious Champions Cup triumph at the Rome Final Four in 1997. He stepped down in 2004 amid internal conflicts within basketball governance, with the Angelopoulos brothers initially managing finances before taking full ownership around 2010.

Kokkalis also took charge of Olympiacos football club in 1993 amid a severe financial crisis triggered by scandals involving former presidents George Koskotas and Argiris Saliarelis. Legislative reforms enabled significant debt restructuring, allowing the club to cancel or gradually repay debts amounting to billions of drachmas under his administration.

Throughout his leadership until 2010, Olympiacos secured an impressive tally of 37 Greek Championships and 24 Greek Cups. Additionally, major infrastructure projects were completed, including a state-of-the-art training facility at Rentis and the redevelopment of Karaiskakis Stadium to meet Olympic standards.

The onset of the Greek debt crisis in 2009 forced the implementation of austerity measures and efforts to attract new investors. When these attempts did not succeed, Kokkalis sold his controlling interest to Evangelos Marinakis in June 2010.

Links with Stasi

Archival evidence reveals that in January 1963, East Germany’s Stasi approached Kokkalis to serve as an informant under the codename "Rocco." During this period, he supplied intelligence on social networks while conducting limited trade activities between West and East Berlin. His formal collaboration ceased in December 1968 after he relocated to Greece with political backing.

Declassified intelligence documents also identify him by the codenames "Kaskade" and "Krokus" throughout the latter stages of the Cold War. Reports suggest he played a role in facilitating the transfer of Western technological expertise to East Germany, helping circumvent embargoes until roughly 1989.

Disclosures

Post-German reunification probes investigated whether Intracom’s founding capital had origins tied to East German assets connected to the Socialist Unity Party (SED). The Independent Commission found no definitive proof implicating Kokkalis or Intracom in illicit funding from the GDR or ongoing espionage activities beyond his initial informant role.

Public allegations resurfaced after journalist Aristea Bougatsou published Stasi files linking Kokkalis to espionage. Prosecutors brought charges against him in 2002; however, these cases were dismissed by 2007 due to expiration of legal time limits or insufficient evidence.

There were also accusations of political interference obstructing cooperation between German and Greek authorities investigating Kokkalis’ Cold War involvement.

Notes

• Following the defeat of the Democratic Army of Greece during the Greek Civil War, approximately 100,000 individuals fled to Eastern Bloc nations seeking refuge from imprisonment or execution. The Greek government revoked their citizenship, effectively barring their return for many years. Under Georgios Papandreou’s administration, repatriation policies evolved from case-by-case decisions to systematic evaluations aimed at assessing security risks.
• Accusations against Kokkalis included espionage as a Stasi agent until 1989; felony fraud involving Intracom shareholders related to contracts with Russian Lotto; embezzlement of billions of drachmas connected to Russian and Romanian agreements; money laundering; and felony bribery implicating state embezzlement laws and officials such as executives from OTE.

External links

• Official website of the Kokkalis Foundation
• Corporate site of Intracom Holdings Group