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At least ten bogus certified boxing coaches without any qualification are training young people in different Greek sports clubs. The fraudsters presented diplomas from the National Sports Academy "Vasil Levski" in Bulgaria. Considering these diplomas, the commission of the General Secretariat of Sports in Greece had approved and appointed them.

When, after some time, the Hellenic Coaching Association sought information from the Academy in Sofia, it replied that there were no data on the specific "students" and that it had not issued their diplomas.

The official letter from Professor Pentcho Geshev, rector of the National Sports Academy "Vasil Levski", reads, "This is to inform you that the persons on the list had never studied at the National Sports Academy "Vasil Levski" and had not been involved in any of its educational programmes.

The copies of the diplomas you have attached to the request for information have not been issued by the National Sports Academy "Vasil Levski". In view of the facts previously stated, you can resort to all legal measures under Greek law."

However, the scandal does not end here. According to the Hellenic Coaching Association, the commission, which had considered and approved the fake diplomas, does not appear in any of the official documents of the General Secretariat of Sports and its employees state that the minutes of the commission meetings have been lost.

Commenting on the developments, the electronic media zougla.gr states that in addition to the criminal liability, they have raised many questions about the role of the Hellenic Boxing Federation, with which one of the fake graduates has close relations. This is because the new coaches have the right to create new boxing clubs which, in turn, elect the management of the Federation.
 
The fact that until today, the General Secretariat of Sports has not carried out any internal investigation nor has it ordered the cancellation of a fake diploma is indicative of how protected the fraudsters are.
 
In an interview for zougla.gr, sports journalist Velisarios Mamoulas states, "The commission on the recognition of diplomas issued by foreign schools and universities involves a member of the management body of the General Secretariat of Sports, a professor at the National Sports Academy in Greece, a representative of the Greek federation of the relevant sport and a representative of the coaching association of the relevant sport, if there is one. In the case of boxing, there is a ministerial decision that the coaching association should participate in the commission that considers the diplomas. However, when the specific diplomas were presented, the coaching association had not been invited to participate, although it is not clear why. This is the first question.
 
The second is the verbal information submitted by an employee of the General Secretariat of Sports that the minutes of the meetings of the commission have been lost."

The journalist insists on submitting official information on the case because "these are not ten different diplomas presented at different times and to different commissions. They were simultaneously presented to a single commission that did not involve a representative of the coaching association." He argues that in exchange for approving the diplomas, the fake graduates pledged to support specific people in the boxing federation by creating new boxing clubs that are entitled to vote in the elections for members of its management.

So far, the General Secretariat of Sports in Greece has made no official statement on the matter.