GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Ilias Anagnostopoulos and Alexandros Tsagkalidis, Anagnostopoulos
of the gift and the openness of offering such a gift. However, the application of regulations and laws on corruption to cases of systematic use of such gifts (eg, travel expenses, meals, entertainment) cannot be excluded in the general context of seeking to influence a public official. Grease payments are prohibited. Such payments are not recognised under account and bookkeeping regulation as legitimate expenses. All payments and expenses must be duly registered and supported by relevant documentation (proper invoicing, contract agreements, etc). If not duly registered, such pay - ments would be considered questionable or even ficti - tious, and potentially as direct or indirect payments for gifts or benefits through third parties. This type of pay - ment is also in breach of the relevant tax provisions and may trigger (depending on the circumstances and value) criminal liability for related tax offences. 2.2 Influence-Peddling Article 237A (trading in influence) describes as pun - ishable the act of requesting or receiving directly or indirectly through third persons, in favour of oneself or others, benefits of any nature or accepting a promise of such benefits in exchange for exerting improper influence over officials described in Articles 159A, 235 paragraph 1 and 237 paragraph 1 of the GCC, as well as members of parliamentary assemblies of interna - tional or transnational organisations of which Greece is a member. 2.3 Financial Record-Keeping Law 5104/2024 provides criminal penalties for false registrations in accounting books or for non-reg - istration of transactions. There are also provisions in legislation for companies limited by shares (Law 4548/2018, which reformed company law) for criminal sanctions for inaccurate or false balance sheets, false or inaccurate declarations on the financial status of the company, etc. Moreover, Law 4443/2016 on Capi - tal Markets provides for criminal sanctions in a case where someone knowingly disseminates misleading or false information through the media or the internet, which could affect the stock price of a listed company and, thus, manipulate the Greek stock market. These acts are punishable when committed with intent (as
opposed to with negligence). Levels of intent may vary, depending on the applicable law. 2.4 Public Officials Article 244 of the GCC stipulates that any public offi - cial who knowingly certifies or collects undue taxes, duties fees, taxation fees, judicial fees, or any other monetary obligations towards the Greek state, may be punished by imprisonment for up to three years. Article 375 of the GCC stipulates that embezzlement is committed when the perpetrator, knowing that (due to a legal provision, eg, as manager, trustee) they are in charge of the property of another person or entity, acts as if they were the owner of the property by incor - porating it into their own assets. This act of embezzle - ment is punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment. If the embezzled assets exceed EUR120,000, the offence is characterised as a felony and is punishable by imprisonment for between five and ten years. If the property belongs to the Greek state or to any public legal entity and the value of the embezzled assets exceeds EUR120,000, this constitutes an aggravating factor and the offence is punishable by imprisonment for between ten and 20 years. Article 259 of the GCC stipulates that the offence of breach of official duties is committed when a pub - lic official intentionally breaches their office duties, with the intent to benefit themselves or a third person unlawfully or to harm the Greek state or a third person unlawfully. This offence is punishable by imprisonment for up to two years, unless the offence committed is punishable in accordance with another more severe criminal provision. 2.5 Intermediaries The broad wording of Articles 235 and 236 of the GCC (passive and active bribery) covers gifts or financial benefits given in a direct or indirect way in favour of the perpetrator or others. In addition, both provisions make special reference to intermediaries to a bribe. In this respect, intermediaries or third parties may be held criminally liable if these transactions are carried out within the context of corruption. It is noted that payments through intermediaries may also be ques - tionable with respect to proper bookkeeping and taxa - tion law.
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