GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Ilias Anagnostopoulos and Alexandros Tsagkalidis, Anagnostopoulos
paragraph 5 and 236 paragraph 4 of the GCC expand the above-mentioned definition and stipulate that public officials are also individu - als who hold office permanently or temporarily under any capacity or status as follows: • in bodies or organisations of the EU, including the European Commission, the ECJ and the ECA; • officers or other employees of any interna - tional or transnational organisation in which Greece participates, as well as any individual with power to act on behalf of such an organi - sation; • members of parliamentary assemblies of international or transnational organisations of which Greece is a member; • those who exercise judicial or arbitration powers with international courts in which Greece participates; • any person in public office or service for foreign countries, including judges, jurors and arbitrators; and • members of parliament or assembly of local governments of other countries. Therefore, bribery of the above-mentioned for - eign public officials is criminalised by the GCC. Moreover, Article 237B of the Greek Crimi - nal Code stipulates that, for bribery offences, employees of state-owned or state-controlled companies or other entities are also considered to be public officials. Bribery in the Private Sector Bribery in the private sector, which is provided for by Article 396 of the GCC, is an act of giving (or receiving) unlawful benefits or gain, directly or indirectly, in exchange for an action or omis - sion contrary to one’s duties (as defined by law, contract, agreement, etc). The perpetrator must act with intent (as opposed to with negligence).
This offence is punishable by imprisonment for between one and five years. Bribery in Sport Bribery in sports is provided for by Article 132 paragraph 2 of Law 2725/1999 on “the profes - sional and amateur sports”, which prohibits the act of requesting/receiving and giving/promis - ing benefits to players, coaches or referees or to other third persons, in order to influence the outcome of a sports game. Such bribery is pun - ishable by imprisonment for up to five years. In a case where the sports game was actually influenced, the offence is punishable by impris - Gains and benefits are not only cash/cash equiv - alents but also intangible benefits (eg, promotion or favourable transfer to a better position). The unlawfulness of such gains/benefits is judged on an ad hoc basis. However, a benefit may gener - ally be considered unlawful if it goes beyond the standards of proper social and/or professional conduct. Facilitation payments are generally treated as bribes. Despite the wording of the relevant law, which is broad and may include at first sight all of the above, anti-bribery legislation would not apply to symbolic gifts or gifts of cour - tesy. The difference lies primarily in the scope 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, entertain - ment) cannot be excluded in the general context of seeking to influence a public official. onment for up to ten years. Gains, Benefits and Gifts Grease payments are prohibited. Such pay - ments are not recognised under account and bookkeeping regulation as legitimate expenses. All payments and expenses must be duly regis - tered and supported by relevant documentation
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