«Ivan Savvidis’ nephew, 10mn euros? But the boy was working as a waiter…»

The major expose of One Channel on PAOK F.C. and Xanthi F.C. is continuing.

The new revelation confirms that Ioannis Kalpatzidis could find 10mn euros from one of two sources: Uncle Ivan or…Monopoly.

This is one more confirmation of the self-evident. The buyer of the facilities of Xanthi is none other than Ivan Savvidis.

That is not only because the new owner (thanks to an order) is the son of Savvidis’ sister and one thinks of a chain of events. It is also because Kalpatzidis could never have had the money in the deal which shook to its foundations the otherwise magical world of Greek football.

“Who? Yannis? A fine yoiung man struggling to make a living. He is a waiter and his sister works in a hair salon,” people of the area told One Channel on camera.

Residents of Kilkis know him since childhood. They remember his father Alexandros who was a factory worker who dealt with his family just as most families there.

They immediately understood how Yannis could come off as a tycoon.

Where might Kalaitzidis have found the 10mn euros that he appears to have placed in the Cypriot company RFA as main stockholder before the purchase of the Xanthi facilities? How might someone who works for 700-800 euros accumulate that kind of money?

“The money is definitely his uncle’s,” a resident of the same area told One Channel on camera.

It is then a given that the Committee on Professional Athletics should want beyond all else to shed light on the case and seek the economic data and the money trail.

Who put 10mn euros in RFA before the purchase in 2018?

Is the money as successive One Channel reports indicate Ivan Savvidis’?

Then we are dealing with the obvious. PAOK and Xanthi are confronted even with the prospect of a downgrading via a “triangular relationship” which is strictly forbidden by athletics law.

Let us take things in order and watch the new revelations on One Channel on the case.

As is well known, RFA is one of many Cypriot companies of Ivan Savvidis’ interests. It bought in 2018 the Xanthi facilities thus indirectly gaining control of the city’s team.

Ivan Savvidis’ nephew Ioannis Kalpatzidis who for years lived in Kilkis was presented as the main stockholder in the company.

Just before the purchase of Xanthi’s facilities 10mn euros were put into RFA in the form of a capital increase. According to company documents it was declared that the 10mn euros were given by the main stockholder – 40-year old Ioannis Kalpatzidis who in the past was involved in other companies controlled by Savvidis.

Where did Kalpatzidis get the 10mn euros? One Channel went to Kilkis to explore the mystery of how the son of a factory worker with a salary of 700-800 euros a month came upon such a large sum.

Alexis Kalpatzidis, Yannis’ father, who found himself with 10mn euros, was a factory worker in the industrial zone of Stavrohori. He had married Savvidis’ elder sister, Sophia, and they lived in Megali Vrisi, a small village a few kilometres outside of Kilkis.

That is where Ivan Savvidis would visit the Kalpatzidis family from the early 1990’s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union. when he began to seek his fortune in Greece.

Yannis Kalpatzidis’ children, Yannis and Elina grew up with the difficulties of every family with a low-income father. About a decade ago Yannis Kalpatzidis worked at the café Azuro, which has since closed, as an employee. His sister opened a hair salon that closed a few years ago.

None of this explains how he could have gathered 10mn euros which it would take 2,000 years to accumulate in his job.

The struggle of the Kalaitzidis family became tougher when the father died.

In 2008 at age 29 Yannis quietly leaves Kilkis without telling friends or associates. In 2013 he had gone to Xanthi where for the first time he formally worked for his uncle.

That relationship is not provocative or intriguing. His wages were not different than his fellow workers.

Then he was placed on the Board of the SEKAP tobacco company but not as CEO or VP.

Five years later he is involved in a business which only a very rich man could handle.

What do tax authorities have to say? Has this money been declared? Most importantly, from what sort of activities did he accrue it?