GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Ilias Anagnostopoulos and Alexandros Tsagkalidis, Anagnostopoulos
prevent active bribery of judicial officials, face impris - onment for between ten days and five years. Bribery of Political Officials Bribery of political officials is provided for by Articles 159 and 159A of the GCC, which stipulate the offenc - es of active and passive bribery of political officials, such as the prime minister, ministers, heads of munici - pal regions (prefects and mayors) and other officials, including members of the European Parliament and the European Commission. These Articles cover the act of giving/receiving and promising/accepting unlawful benefits for committing or omitting an act as well as for abstaining from voting, or voting in a par - ticular manner, or supporting a specific resolution. The perpetrator must act with intent (as opposed to with negligence). These offences are punishable by impris - onment for between five and 20 years. Company executives, or any other person with decision-making or supervisory powers, who fail through negligence to prevent active political bribery face imprisonment for between ten days and five years. Bribery of Public Officials Article 13 of the GCC defines “public official” as a person entrusted permanently or temporarily with the exercise of duties directly related to the state or public law entities. However, Articles 159 paragraph 4, 159A paragraph 4, 235 paragraph 5 and 236 paragraph 4 of the GCC expand the above-mentioned definition and stipulate that public officials are also individuals who hold office permanently or temporarily under any capacity or status as follows: • in bodies or organisations of the EU, including the European Commission, the ECJ and the ECA; • officers or other employees of any international or transnational organisation in which Greece partici - pates, as well as any individual with power to act on behalf of such an organisation; • members of parliamentary assemblies of inter - national or transnational organisations of which Greece is a member; • those who exercise judicial or arbitration powers with international courts in which Greece partici - pates;
• any person in public office or service for foreign countries, including judges, jurors and arbitrators; and • members of parliament or assembly of local gov - ernments of other countries. Therefore, bribery of the above-mentioned foreign public officials is criminalised by the GCC. Moreover, Article 237B of the Greek Criminal Code stipulates that, for bribery offences, employees of state-owned or state-controlled companies or other entities are also considered to be public officials. Bribery in the Private Sector Bribery in the private sector, which is provided for by Article 396 of the GCC, is an act of giving (or receiv - ing) unlawful benefits or gain, directly or indirectly, in exchange for an action or omission contrary to one’s duties (as defined by law, contract, agreement, etc). The perpetrator must act with intent (as opposed to with negligence). This offence is punishable by impris - onment for between one and five years. Bribery in Sport Bribery in sports is provided for by Article 132 para - graph 2 of Law 2725/1999 on “the professional and amateur sports”, which prohibits the act of request - ing/receiving and giving/promising benefits to play - ers, coaches or referees or to other third persons, in order to influence the outcome of a sports game. Such bribery is punishable by imprisonment for up to five years. In a case where the sports game was actually influenced, the offence is punishable by imprisonment for up to ten years. Gains, Benefits and Gifts Gains and benefits are not only cash/cash equiva - lents but also intangible benefits (eg, promotion or favourable transfer to a better position). The unlaw - fulness of such gains/benefits is judged on an ad hoc basis. However, a benefit may generally be con - sidered unlawful if it goes beyond the standards of proper social and/or professional conduct. Facilita - tion payments are generally treated as bribes. Despite the wording of the relevant law, which is broad and may include at first sight all of the above, anti-bribery legislation would not apply to symbolic gifts or gifts of courtesy. The difference lies primarily in the scope
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