GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Ilias Anagnostopoulos and Alexandros Tsagkalidis, Anagnostopoulos
1. Legal Framework 1.1 International Conventions Greece has ratified all major anti-bribery and anti- corruption international conventions: • the UN Convention Against Corruption (Law 3666/2008); • the Council of Europe Criminal Law Conven - tion on Corruption and Additional Protocol (Law 3560/2007); • the Council of Europe Civil Law Convention on Corruption (Law 2957/2001); • the EU Convention on the Protection of the European Communities’ Financial Interests (Law 2803/2000); • the EU Convention Against Corruption Involving Officials of the European Communities or Officials of Member States of the European Union (Official Journal C195 of 25 June 1997) (Law 2802/2000); and • the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (Law 2656/1998). 1.2 National Legislation The main anti-bribery and anti-corruption provisions of Greek legislation are to be found in the Greek Crimi - nal Code (GCC) (Articles 159–159A and 235–238) as well as in the anti-money laundering legislation (Law 4557/2018). 1.3 Guidelines for the Interpretation and Enforcement of National Legislation Although not binding, the case law of the Greek Supreme Court (Areios Pagos) may be used as a means of interpreting the Greek criminal provisions. Moreover, several enforcement agencies and regula - tory bodies have issued guidelines over the years in respect of anti-corruption regulation, best practices, signs of irregularity of transactions, etc. In addition to the guidelines issued by regulatory bodies (eg, the Bank of Greece, the Hellenic Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the Capital Market Commission), business associations in sensitive industries (eg, healthcare) are proposing guidelines to their members, recommend -
ing best practices, evaluating market statistics, shar - ing experience from other jurisdictions, etc. 1.4 Recent Key Amendments to National Legislation A law recently passed by the Greek Parliament (Law 5090/2024) introduced criminal liability of legal enti - ties in relation to corruption offences, such as brib - ery. In such cases, criminal courts have the power to impose fines to legal entities ranging from EUR50,000 to EUR10 million, or to twice the pre-tax annual net profits of the legal entity (if such amount exceeds EUR10 million), if they find that the corruption offence was committed for the benefit or on behalf of the legal entity. Moreover, criminal courts have the power to impose definitive or temporary revocation or suspen - sion of the licence of operations of the legal entity, or impose a ban on the exercise of its business activities. 2. Bribery and Corruption Elements 2.1 Bribery Bribery Bribery in the public sector, which is provided for by Articles 235 and 236 of the Greek Criminal Code (GCC), is an act of giving (or receiving) or promising (or accepting), directly or through third parties or interme - diaries, undue benefits or gain to/from a public official for committing or omitting an act in the course of one’s duties or against one’s duties. The act of the public official may be concluded, or expected to be conclud - ed, in the future. The perpetrator must act with intent (as opposed to with negligence). Active and passive bribery in the public sector is punishable by imprison - ment for between one and ten years, depending on whether the act for which the bribe was given was in the course of, or against, the public official’s duties. Bribery of Judges Bribery of judges is provided for by Article 237 of the GCC, which covers the offences of active and passive bribery of such persons. Bribery of judges is punish - able by imprisonment for between five and 20 years. The perpetrator must act with intent (as opposed to with negligence). Company executives, or any other person with decision-making or supervisory powers within the company, who fail through negligence to
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