GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Ilias Anagnostopoulos and Alexandros Tsagkalidis, Anagnostopoulos
1.4 Recent Key Amendments to National Legislation A law recently passed by the Greek Parliament (Law 5090/2024) introduced criminal liability of legal entities in relation to corruption offences, such as bribery. In such cases, criminal courts have the power to impose fines to legal entities ranging from EUR50,000 to EUR10 million, or to twice the pre-tax annual net profits of the legal entity (if such amount exceeds EUR10 million), if they find that the corruption offence was com - mitted for the benefit or on behalf of the legal entity. Moreover, criminal courts have the power to impose definitive or temporary revocation or suspension of the licence of operations of the legal entity, or impose a ban on the exercise of its business activities. 2. Bribery and Corruption Elements 2.1 Bribery Bribery Bribery in the public sector, which is provided for by Articles 235 and 236 of the Greek Crimi - nal Code (GCC), is an act of giving (or receiving) or promising (or accepting), directly or through third parties or intermediaries, undue benefits or gain to/from a public official for committing or omitting an act in the course of one’s duties or against one’s duties. The act of the public official may be concluded, or expected to be concluded, in the future. The perpetrator must act with intent (as opposed to with negligence). Active and passive bribery in the public sector is punishable by imprisonment for between one and ten years, depending on whether the act for which the bribe was given was in the course of, or against, the public official’s duties.
Bribery of Judges Bribery of judges is provided for by Article 237 of the GCC, which covers the offences of active and passive bribery of such persons. Bribery of judges is punishable by imprisonment for between five and 20 years. The perpetrator must act with intent (as opposed to with negligence). Company executives, or any other person with decision-making or supervisory powers within the company, who fail through negligence to prevent active bribery of judicial officials, face imprisonment 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 stipu - late the offences of active and passive bribery of political officials, such as the prime minister, min - isters, heads of municipal regions (prefects and mayors) and other officials, including members of the European Parliament and the European Commission. These Articles cover the act of giv - ing/receiving and promising/accepting unlawful benefits for committing or omitting an act as well as for abstaining from voting, or voting in a particular manner, or supporting a specific resolution. The perpetrator must act with intent (as opposed to with negligence). These offences are punishable by imprisonment for between five and 20 years. Company executives, or any oth - er 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 temporar - ily with the exercise of duties directly related to the state or public law entities. However, Arti - cles 159 paragraph 4, 159A paragraph 4, 235
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