Bill Papas: Owner of Xanthi FC, Greek Authorities Report

Forum Group chief executive Bill Papas will maintain his grip on Greek football team Xanthi FC after officials ruled he owned the club – despite earlier telling an Australian court the opposite.

The Greek Professional Sports Committee ruled on Friday that Mr Papas continued to control the high profile Greek football team.

In a statement, the committee said “there was no illegal transfer of the shares” and “the data so far do not show the illegal origin of the money, which was allocated for the increase of the share capital of PAE Xanthi”.

Mr Papas was dragged before the committee late last year to explain statements he’d made to the Federal Court attesting that he’d sold his shares in the company which controlled the Greek Super League 2 side. Mr Papas had told the court he’d sold his shares in Mazcon, the company which owned Xanthi FC.

However, Greek media reports he “did not deny the authenticity of this document, however, he claimed that a statement made in the context of a civil case in an ongoing foreign court does not mean that it is true”.