GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Ilias Anagnostopoulos and Alexandros Tsagkalidis, Anagnostopoulos
4.5 Safe Harbour or Amnesty Programme Article 263A of the GCC provides leniency meas - ures applicable to the perpetrators of active bribery. If individuals who have participated in active bribery report the criminal conduct of the bribed official to the authorities and make substantial disclosures as to the official’s criminal acts, they are eligible either to receive a lesser sentence, or to be granted a suspen - sion of criminal proceedings against them by virtue of a decision of the indicting court until the validity of the information they provided is verified, or to be granted suspension of their sentence. There is no general provision for leniency measures applicable to companies or legal entities with respect to acts of corruption. It is possible, however, in view of the abil - ity of the authorities to choose which administrative penalties will be imposed, to apply the minimum fine and no other penalties. Criminal penalties are imposed solely on individuals and consist mainly of imprisonment (between ten days and 20 years) and monetary fines. 5.2 Guidelines Applicable to the Assessment of Penalties The legal provisions applicable to each case define the range of the sentence to be imposed by the court (ie, the minimum and maximum duration of imprison - ment). The GCC (Articles 79–85) sets out the guidelines for imposition and calculation of sentences, within the range mentioned in 5.1 Penalties on Conviction . In particular, the court has to consider various factors, such as the severity of the act and the personality of the defendant. The court also examines – following a request by the defence – whether any mitigating circumstances apply, which could lead to a lesser sentence. Such circumstances include lack of prior involvement in criminal acts, good behaviour after the act, showing true remorse after the act, and mak - ing efforts to amend or lessen the negative impacts of their actions. However, the courts also take into account previous final convictions when calculating the sentence that will be imposed on the individual. 5. Penalties for Violations 5.1 Penalties on Conviction
that the sanctions imposed on an entity are of an administrative nature (fines, suspension of activities, ban from public tenders), it is highly likely that these sanctions will be imposed on the successor entity as well. It is noted that, with respect to administrative sanctions, the procedure followed resembles the pro - cedure of imposing tax-related fines and sanctions. For these purposes, a legal entity is considered as a whole (ie, the successor has all the liabilities and rights of the target entity). Under Greek law, it is the prosecuting authorities that collect evidence and prove their case. Depending on the phase of the procedure (preliminary inquiry, inves - tigation, pre-indictment), the prosecuting authorities need to satisfy general standards to advance the case file (usually the existence of sufficient evidence to justify further investigation or recommendation to open a formal investigation or recommendation for trial referral). The defendant is entitled to challenge the prosecuting authorities’ case even at the earliest stages (during the preliminary inquiry and the investigation) on all points – ie, points of law and on the merits. In view of this, the defendant is entitled to request file documents from the authorities carrying out specific investigations, and to request the examination of specific witnesses, expert opinions, etc. The investigating procedure (pre - liminary and official) is always reviewed by a Council of Judges (three judges), which is competent to examine any procedural objections raised by the defendant. 4.2 Exceptions There are no exceptions to these defences. 4.3 De Minimis Exceptions There are no de minimis exceptions for the offences described in 2. Classification and Constituent Ele - ments . 4.4 Exempt Sectors/Industries No sectors or industries are exempt from the afore - mentioned offences. 4. Defences and Exceptions 4.1 Defences
107 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook