GREECE Trends and Developments Contributed by: Ovvadias S. Namias, Vasileios Petropoulos, Ilias Spyropoulos and Emmanouil Apostolakis, Ovvadias S. Namias Law Firm
grade. The investment pillars of this plan are the following: (a) green energy in the context of climate change and the energy crisis; (b) digitalisation, co-ordination and interconnec - tion of public services; (c) large infrastructural works, such as enlarge - ment of the U-ban network, highways, un - derwater electrical connection between the islands; and (d) the announced investments of Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Pfizer (in Thessaloniki), Volk - swagen (the green island in Astypalaia), Digital Realty, Royal Sugar, and, of course, Hellinikon (approximately EUR8 billion), among others – which are of symbolic importance. • In addition, circumstances are favourable for Greece, as stagnant global capital is looking for attractive investment areas, regardless of the fact that such areas may have high levels of public debt. Furthermore, the resurgence of American corporations must be included. • Thus, the question now arises as to the extent to which the above considerations can be linked to the issue of intra-corporate investigations. It goes without saying that ambitious development and infrastructure projects will be taken over by large, international groups which have the “know-how” and necessary experience in the respective areas. It is also understandable that, as far as the eco - nomic situation in Greece in the coming years is concerned, these groups will come to the fore. Since such groups are very familiar with the con - cept, with the benefits, as well as with the practice of internal investigations – at least in comparison with small, medium or larger companies in Greece – and, since these investigations are considered part of corporate governance, it is to be expected that their active presence will accelerate the adap - tation of this practice in the Greek market in gen - eral. It is quite clear that the new Law 4706/2020 on corporate governance will be supplemented either in the direction of mandatory investigations
in a company by an external, independent body (mainly in the case of listed companies), or sought out as a voluntary practice on the part of the com - panies themselves. In a corporate world in which both the authorities and companies are becoming increasingly familiar with the benefits of internal investigations, it is safe to expect that, on the one hand, corporations themselves will voluntarily undertake such investigations by law firms or audit firms to clarify unlawful internal corporate actions and, on the other, the authorities will entrust law or audit firms with the task. As already described, this was the case with the Folli-Follie, MLS, Siemens, Novartis and Atlas proceedings. • The activity of international companies in Greece may result in the application of not only Greek but also foreign administrative and/or criminal provisions, such as those included in the Ger - man Administrative Offences Act (OWiG), the UK Bribery Act and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which encourage (and reward) the conduct of internal investigations. • Last, but not least, conducting a quality internal investigation at an early stage of criminal pro - ceedings can make a significant contribution to speeding up the administration of justice. This is because, as practice has repeatedly demonstrated in a number of cases, having a targeted internal investigation conducted by a team of experienced professionals (criminal lawyers) at an early stage significantly reduces the risk of serious deficiencies in the evidence and in the structure and substan - tiation of the accusation, which can result in both a delay in the trial of the case and in the dismissal of the accusation. The extension of the applica - tion of internal investigations will therefore have another important advantage for Greek affairs with institutional value, to the extent that it can con - tribute substantially to the fight against the basic pathogenesis of the Greek criminal justice system, which is unfortunately the long time required for the administration of criminal justice.
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