About Sokratis Kokkalis
Sokratis Kokkalis (Greek: Σωκράτης Κόκκαλης; born 27 May 1939) is a Greek businessman, founder and principal shareholder of Intracom Holdings. He was the son of Petros Kokkalis and spent his youth as a political refugee in East Germany until 1965, when he relocated permanently to Greece. During the 1990s and 2000s, the company was a significant business entity in Greece, becoming the primary supplier to the public sector, particularly in the nascent IT. The company's portfolio includes the modernization of the Greek telecommunications network, the installation of the national "TAXIS" tax system, the online computer network of OPAP, the network infrastructure for mobile telephony providers, participation in joint ventures as suppliers of IT equipment for the 2004 Athens Olympics, and involvement in significant railway infrastructure and road construction projects for the public sector. However, he became more widely known to the general public with the acquisition of Olympiacos in 1993, which occurred during a challenging period for the club. Over the course of his ten-year tenure as president, he was instrumental in revitalizing Olympiacos and establishing the foundation for the club's subsequent success on the European stage. In 2001, he was ranked 421st on the Forbes list of the 500 richest individuals in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$1.2 billion. He was subjected to considerable criticism for the opaque and gratuitous contracts he concluded with state organizations, as reported by the media. On several occasions, he was faced with criminal prosecutions, which were ultimately dismissed. Due to his close association with state-dependent enterprises, he was derisively referred to as "the supplier of the Nation". Kokkalis was also associated more than any other businessman of the period 1980-2000 with the phenomenon of political corruption (|interwoven interests, embezzlement) in the country.
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