GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Ilias Anagnostopoulos and Alexandros Tsagkalidis, Anagnostopoulos
2.4 Public Officials Article 244 of the GCC stipulates that any public official who knowingly certifies or collects undue taxes, duties fees, taxation fees, judicial fees, or any other monetary obligations towards the Greek state, may be punished by imprisonment for up to three years. Article 375 of the GCC stipulates that embezzle - ment is committed when the perpetrator, know - ing that (due to a legal provision, eg, as man - ager, trustee) they are in charge of the property of another person or entity, acts as if they were the owner of the property by incorporating it into their own assets. This act of embezzlement is punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment. If the embezzled assets exceed EUR120,000, the offence is characterised as a felony and is pun - ishable by imprisonment for between five and ten years. If the property belongs to the Greek state or to any public legal entity and the value of the embezzled assets exceeds EUR120,000, this constitutes an aggravating factor and the offence is punishable by imprisonment for between ten and 20 years. Article 259 of the GCC stipulates that the offence of breach of official duties is committed when a public official intentionally breaches their office duties, with the intent to benefit themselves or a third person unlawfully or to harm the Greek state or a third person unlawfully. This offence is punishable by imprisonment for up to two years, unless the offence committed is punishable in accordance with another more severe criminal provision. 2.5 Intermediaries The broad wording of Articles 235 and 236 of the GCC (passive and active bribery) covers gifts or financial benefits given in a direct or indirect way in favour of the perpetrator or others. In addition,
(proper invoicing, contract agreements, etc). If not duly registered, such payments would be considered questionable or even fictitious, and potentially as direct or indirect payments for gifts or benefits through third parties. This type of payment is also in breach of the relevant tax provisions and may trigger (depending on the circumstances and value) criminal liability for related tax offences. 2.2 Influence-Peddling Article 237A (trading in influence) describes as punishable the act of requesting or receiv - ing directly or indirectly through third persons, in favour of oneself or others, benefits of any nature or accepting a promise of such benefits in exchange for exerting improper influence over officials described in Articles 159A, 235 para - graph 1 and 237 paragraph 1 of the GCC, as well as members of parliamentary assemblies of international or transnational organisations of which Greece is a member. 2.3 Financial Record-Keeping Law 5104/2024 provides criminal penalties for false registrations in accounting books or for non-registration of transactions. There are also provisions in legislation for companies limited by shares (Law 4548/2018, which reformed com - pany law) for criminal sanctions for inaccurate or false balance sheets, false or inaccurate dec - larations on the financial status of the company, etc. Moreover, Law 4443/2016 on Capital Mar - kets provides for criminal sanctions in a case where someone knowingly disseminates mis - leading or false information through the media or the internet, which could affect the stock price of a listed company and, thus, manipulate the Greek stock market. These acts are punishable when committed with intent (as opposed to with negligence). Levels of intent may vary, depend - ing on the applicable law.
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