“Local Politics and Football Collide: Nottingham Forest Shareholder Backs Ben Bradley’s Mayoral Bid…Read more
“Ben Bradley’s Mayoral Campaign Receives Contribution from Nottingham Forest Shareholder Sokratis Kominakis”
One of the owners of Nottingham Forest has been revealed as a contributor to Ben Bradley’s campaign for East Midlands Mayor. All candidates were required to submit comprehensive reports detailing their expenditures and donations to Nottingham City Council by June 7, with the exception of the Liberal Democrat candidate. Bradley’s list of donations includes two £50,000 contributions from Sokratis Kominakis. Kominakis, a Greek businessman, along with Evangelos Marinakis, led the consortium that acquired Forest from the Al-Hasawi family in 2017. Bradley, representing the Conservative Party, finished second in the East Midlands Mayor race, losing to Labour’s Claire Ward.
While Kominakis is listed as a donor to Bradley’s campaign, Bradley clarifies that these contributions were not directly allocated to his campaign. Instead, he asserts that donations were made to the Conservative Party centrally, and the party directed him on whom to include in the donations list for transparency purposes. Bradley emphasizes that it’s the central party that determines the allocation of funds it receives, thus distancing Kominakis’ donations from direct association with him. Essentially, Bradley suggests that the £218,000 in total donations he received could be attributed to the national Conservative Party.
Claire Ward, representing Labour, adopts a similar approach, with her donations list showing only one contribution exceeding £130,000 from the Labour Party. Electoral Commission data released on June 6 revealed that Sokratis Kominakis had previously made two donations of £50,000 each to the Conservative Party earlier this year. The first donation was received on February 22, followed by the second on February 26. Approximately a month after these donations, Rishi Sunak visited the City Ground, marking the first visit by a sitting British Prime Minister to the stadium. However, there is no indication of any connection between the visit and the donations.
Before becoming a minority shareholder in Forest alongside Marinakis, Kominakis held executive positions at companies such as Vodafone and Procter & Gamble. Together, they formed the NF Football Investments Ltd company to acquire their shares. Additionally, between 2010 and 2011, Kominakis served as vice president of Olympiacos, a prominent Greek Super League club also owned by Marinakis.
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