KSG Donor Accused of Espionage

A Greek telecommunications tycoon and major donor to the Kennedy School of Government (KSG) is reportedly under investigation for alleged Cold War espionage.

But officials at the KSG—which has received millions of dollars from Socrates Kokkalis for a program to encourage capitalism and democracy in southeastern Europe—say that they will assume he is innocent until he is proven guilty.

The Greek newspaper Kathimerini reported last month that recently “deciphered” documents show that Kokkalis provided information about Greek government officials to the East German intelligence agency, Stasi, between 1985 and 1989.

And, according to the Boston Globe, one member of the Greek parliament has called on Harvard to conduct its own investigation.

KSG Spokesperson Jesus Mena said that many of the allegations are not new, and that KSG inquiries have found no substance to such claims in the past.

“We’ve researched this as far as we can and we feel comfortable in our relationship,” said Mena.

Kokkalis has donated more than $5 million to the KSG’s Kokkalis Program on Southeastern and East-Central Europe. The program, established in 1997, sponsors research to help Balkan states become democratic and capitalist, according to its website.

The Kokkalis Program has sponsored more than 150 events, and has provided scholarships for nineteen students from southeastern Europe to study at the KSG, according to Program Director Elaine M. Papoulias.

“The program has been extremely successful thanks to [Kokkalis’s] vision and the support of the Kennedy School,” she said.

Papoulias said the allegations against Kokkalis will not have any impact on the program.

“We feel that [the program’s work] is critical for the future of the leadership of the region,” she said. “It is extremely important for a region that’s striving to deepen and consolidate democracy and establish free markets.”

KSG Senior Associate Dean Joseph McCarthy praised the Kokkalis program, saying that future programs may use it as a model. He said the allegations do not affect the relationship between Kokkalis and KSG.

“Allegations are allegations,” said McCarthy. “We will presume his innocence until proven otherwise.”

In 1998, a German parliamentary commission concluded that Kokkalis was recruited by Stasi in 1963 and regularly provided information to the agency under the code name “Rocco.”

But the commission found no continued association between Kokkalis and Stasi in the 1980s.

According to Kathimerini, however, the new documents show that Kokkalis continued to report to the spy agency under the code names “Kaskade” and “Krokus” until the fall of Berlin Wall in 1989.

The paper reported that Greek prosecutors are considering these documents in an ongoing investigation of the wealthy entrepreneur.

Kokkalis has responded to these allegations in a statement posted on the website of his telecommunications firm, Intracom. Entitled “A Reply to the Slanderers,” the statement denies all allegations and says that Kathimerini has published similar allegations in the past which have been disproven.

“The independent Greek Justice system has always, after thorough investigations of every item of the so-called indisputable evidence and disclosure, ascertained that all ‘charges’ were and are groundless,” wrote Kokkalis.“The arrogant slanderers who launch such malicious attacks should become well aware that, eventually, their attempts would receive a fitting reply.”

In a statement, Piper Rudnick—a law firm which represents Intracom in the U.S.—emphasized that no indictments have been brought against Kokkalis.

The Greek legal system requires prosecutors to investigate all criminal allegations, whether supported by evidence or not, the statement said.

The firm’s statement quoted a State Department report which called the Greek press “usually aggressive, sensationalist, and frequently irresponsible with regard to content.”

Kokkalis was raised in East Germany, and attended Lemonosov University in Moscow. In 1977, he founded Intracom in Greece.

At age 64, Kokkalis remains chair and chief executive officer of the company. He is also owner and president of Greece’s best-known soccer team, Olympiakos.

In 2001, Forbes magazine valued Kokkalis’s fortune at $1.2 billion, making him the third richest person in Greece at that time.

—Staff writer Nathaniel A. Smith can be reached at nsmith@fas.harvard.edu.