[8] He spent part of his childhood in Fourna, Evritania, where his father was a member of the Political Committee of National Liberation (PEEA) as "Secretary of Social Welfare" and temporarily that of "Education" of the so-called "Government of the Mountain".
At the end of the German occupation the family will settle in Athens again, but his parents' participation in the Greek Civil War on the side of the Greek Democratic Army will force them to flee to communist Belgrade, where the children will settle in Bulkeszi to go to school and the father will take part in the Civil War as a member of the Provisional Democratic Government.
In 1955 the family leaves Romania for East Berlin, where his father is appointed "Director of Experimental Surgery of the Circulatory System" of the German Academy of Sciences.
[10] During this short period of time he will make his first contacts with Greek entrepreneurs, having already decided to deal with the business part of his academic field.
In 1965 he was able to settle in Greece, after he managed, with the help of the MP of the Centre Union, Athanasios Papageorgiou, to benefit from the favorable regulations for political refugees a implemented by the government of Georgios Papandreou and regain Greek citizenship.
They have two sons Konstantinos and Socrates Jr.[13] Socratis Kokkalis Jr. died on 14 July 2018, aged 34, in Cleveland, US, having consumed cocaine adulterated with heroin and fentanyl.
Kokkalis retained "RTF" and "Elektrotechnik" and proceeded to establish a new company, "INTEGRA", with Konstantinos Dimitriadis, a mechanical engineer, as a partner.
[18] The ascension of the Left to power in 1981, which saw the election of PASOK, led to a unique and privileged relationship between Sokratis Kokkalis and the new government officials.
Given his father's background and the connections he had fostered with the Centre Union, many of whose members, led by Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, had aligned with PASOK in the post-war era, the businessman was regarded as a supportive figure by the new government, which extended him a favourable treatment.
[19] [20] The significant business opportunity for Sokratis Kokkalis arose in the mid-1980s with the decision to modernize and digitize the Greek national telecommunications network.
In 1993, it commenced operations with OPAP under circumstances that again prompted concerns about the transparency of the contractual arrangements and led to judicial investigations into the procurement process.
This was interpreted by market participants as a strategic withdrawal from business operations, a move that was seen as paving the way for the succession of his two sons, Konstantinos and Sokratis.
[26] Kokkalis's strategy involved a revision of the Intracom Group's activities, including the sale of numerous subsidiaries, such as "INTRAKAT", "INTRASOFT" International, and "INTRAKOM DEFENCE".
Additionally, the company underwent a transformation into a listed private equity fund, a move that was driven by the need to adapt to the evolving global economic landscape.
In response to this, Kokkalis undertook a series of strategic reorganisations and appointments, including the selection of Giannis Ioannidis and Dušan Ivković as coaches.
In March 1992, the Court of First Instance of Piraeus appointed a new Board of Directors for Olympiacos FC, including Stavros Daifas as chairman and Sokratis Kokkalis as member.
The regulation was made by "Law 2021/1992" of Stefanos Manos, Minister of National Economy in the government of Konstantinos Mitsotakis, which was passed by all parties of the Parliament, except the KKE.
[31][32] In March 1993, after "Law 2166/93" provided for the repayment of the debt in 120 instalments, Stavros Daifas, who was suffering from health problems, left the presidency and Kokkalis took over.
Subsequently, in 1965, he established permanent residency in Greece with the assistance of Ioannis Papageorgiou, who was then a member of the Centre Union, and expanded his network within the country's political circles.
The final conclusion of the Commission, published on 28 May 1998, states: In January 1963, Sokratis Kokkalis was recruited by the Stasi under the code name "Rocco" as a GI (secret informant, then known as IM).
Beucher offered the following explanation: it would appear that there was a consultation between Prime Ministers Kohl and Mitsotakis at the joint funeral of Willy Brandt in 1992.
[43][42] In 2002, the investigative journalist Aristea Bougatsou, writing for the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, published documents from the archives of the East German Ministry for State Security which appeared to link Sokratis Kokkalis to the service initially as an informer and subsequently as a spy.
These allegations led to the intervention of the First Instance Prosecutor Dimitris Papangelopoulos in February 2002 who brought criminal charges against Sokratis Kokkalis for five felonies and two misdemeanours.b[44] In 2003, at the conclusion of the pre-trial proceedings, the Prosecutor, with the agreement of the Magistrate, closed the case about espionage, on the grounds that the offence for which they were accused had become statute-barred due to the lapse of fifteen years since their commission.