GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Ilias Anagnostopoulos and Alexandros Tsagkalidis, Anagnostopoulos
both provisions make special reference to inter - mediaries to a bribe. In this respect, intermediar - ies or third parties may be held criminally liable if these transactions are carried out within the context of corruption. It is noted that payments through intermediaries may also be questionable with respect to proper bookkeeping and taxa - tion law. 2.6 Lobbyists Lobbying activities are regulated by Law 4829/2021. The aim of this law is to ensure integ - rity and transparency when exercising lobbying activities. To this end, a Transparency Registrar was established to which all natural and legal persons who exercise lobbying activities for a fee, through communications with institutional bodies (ie, the bodies exercising a legislative or executive function, their members or employees, whether acting individually or collectively), must register by providing information about their identity and activities. On an annual basis, their representatives must file a declaration with the National Transparency Agency, stating, amongst others, the policy area and type of decision that was influenced, the details of the person who exercised influence, as well as of their client, the time and manner in which the lobbying activity was carried out, the institutional body to which the lobbying activity was addressed, and, finally, the intended result.
demeanours punishable by sentences of up to five years are time-barred after five years. As a matter of principle, calculation of these times is made from the time of the act, unless there is a special legal rule that provides otherwise. Limitation times are suspended for five years (for felonies) or three years (for misdemeanours) while the case is pending before a court and until a final decision is delivered or if there are legal grounds that do not allow the prosecution and/ or its continuation. This five-year extension is not valid in cases where there is suspension of the proceedings by law, following certain provisions of the Greek Code of Civil Procedure (GCCP). There are special provisions for cases relating either to the country’s international affairs (Article 29 of the GCCP) or cases that are very closely connected to other criminal cases already pend - ing, and their outcome is of major importance to the suspended criminal case (Article 59 of the GCCP). 3.2 Geographical Reach of Applicable Legislation Article 8 of the GCC stipulates that Greek leg - islation is always applicable to offences com - mitted abroad by public officials of the Greek state, or by officials of EU bodies and organisa - tions seated in Greece. According to the same provision, Greek legislation is always applicable where the crime committed abroad was directed against, or addressed to, a public official of the Greek state, or a Greek officer of an EU body or organisation, during or in relation to the exercise of their duties. Moreover, Articles 159 paragraph 4, 159A para - graph 4, 235 paragraph 5 and 236 paragraph 4 of the GCC, which have expanded the definition of “public official” to cover foreign public offi - cials, stipulate that active and passive bribery of
3. Scope of Application 3.1 Limitation Period
The general rules of limitation periods are set out in Articles 111–116 of the GCC. The limi - tation time for serious financial crimes against the state or state-owned entities is 20 years. Felonies punishable by imprisonment (five to 20 years) are time-barred after 15 years, and mis -
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