GREECE Trends and Developments Contributed by: Ovvadias S. Namias, Vasileios Petropoulos, Ilias Spyropoulos and Emmanouil Apostolakis, Ovvadias S. Namias Law Firm
ings as civil claimants ( politikos enagōn ) in support of the prosecution. This is because they are not regarded as “directly injured” within the meaning of the above- mentioned relevant provisions of criminal procedure. The rationale underlying this exclusion rests upon the inherent nature of capital market offences: such acts are deemed to infringe the orderly functioning, transparency and reliability of the market as a whole, rather than the proprietary interests of specific inves- tors. Consequently, the harm to individual investors, while potentially real and economically measurable, is considered derivative and indirect, resulting from distortions in the market mechanism rather than from direct infringement of individual rights. It follows that offences such as market manipulation or insider dealing do not necessarily correspond to the existence of a clearly identifiable victim. Indeed, it is conceivable that certain investors may even profit from such unlawful conduct, depending on the timing and structure of their transactions. For this reason, criminal proceedings in this domain are structured around the protection of the market’s institutional integrity rather than the redress of private losses.
Conversely, there is an ongoing doctrinal debate as to whether, within the framework of civil proceedings, acts of market abuse may constitute a tortious act (ad delictum) giving rise to a private law claim for damag- es. The prevailing view in Greek legal scholarship and case law remains cautious (although not negative), as the causal nexus between the wrongful conduct and specific individual loss might appear too remote or speculative to satisfy the requirements for delict- ual liability. Accordingly, the feasibility of a collective civil action akin to the Anglo-American class action remains, under current Greek law, both procedurally and substantively uncertain.
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