By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
After the arrest of Romain Sato in Slovenia, one more former player of Panathinaikos and current member of Fenerbahce Ulker was detained. Mike Batiste traveled to Athens, where he was a resident for nine years, in order to face his old team, but he will spend the night in custody at the “Eleftherios Venizelos” airport because of a 200.000 euros tax debt.
Batiste was well aware about this problem before the travel and he contacted the Greek embassy in Istanbul in order to know what will happen when he will arrive in Greek soil. According to his side, he was told not to worry about it, but also to take care of the issue as soon as possible.
From the first moment of Batiste’s arrest, his agent Nick Lotsos with a lawyer got to the airport in order to clarify the situation and also his former team, Panathinaikos, is following closely the incident in order to help. It has to be noted that the local taxes in most cases are paid directly by the teams in Greece, however the tax bill is addressed to the players. Both Panathinaikos and Batiste insist that they have paid their share of taxes.
Fenerbahce’s GM Kemal Dincer spoke about the incident to Turkish media and he is expecting that Batiste will be set free on Friday morning. There is also an official press release by the Turkish club about the subject and it’s possible for Mike Batiste himself to issue also a written statement in the following hours. It’s ironic that his return in Greece which was supposed to be a special occasion for him and his former team, has turned into this…
UPDATE: The Greek authorities have guaranteed to Batiste that he will play on Friday, but he has to follow the standard procedure and that means that he will miss the morning shoot around. His wife, Sarah, will spend the night near him, as Batiste is obliged to sleep in the airport’s police station. He was not expecting something like that, but at least he will be compensated at OAKA by the Green fans and his old club.