GREECE Trends and Developments Contributed by: Ovvadias S. Namias, Vasileios Petropoulos, Ilias Spyropoulos and Emmanouil Apostolakis, Ovvadias S. Namias Law Firm
order to respond to the whistle-blower within a reasonable time. Therefore, under this new regulatory framework, there is a new scope for carrying out internal investigations when reports are substantiated and need to be investigated. From the presentation of the above provisions, it can be concluded that, despite the fact that, in Greek law, internal investigations are not explic - itly regulated, they can have a substantially posi - tive effect on the possible legal consequences for the company and the Board of Directors. Orders for Internal Investigations by Supervisory Authorities It is common for Greek supervisory authorities to commission law firms or auditing companies to conduct an internal investigation. For example, among capital markets cases, the Greek super - visory authority, the Hellenic Capital Market Commission, has ordered the conduct of internal investigations in order to save money and man - power, in particular when the companies under investigation refuse to respond to an initial sum - mons. In this case, the cost of the investigation is be borne by the listed company under investi - gation, and the final report is primarily addressed to the company and to the supervisory author - ity because such administrative investigations must remain secret. However, it is fairly common for minority shareholders to demand access to the report in order to bring criminal and/or civil charges against the company’s executive board. To this end, the report can only be kept secret after invoking the attorney-client privilege, which applies when the investigation is carried out by a law firm.
gators or consultants. In practice, those involved are, for the most part, specialist lawyers in crimi - nal law, and in some cases also auditors who act on behalf of the company concerned. In the context of this co-operation, lawyers specialising in white-collar criminal law or law firms in general have the following comparative advantages compared to auditing firms or in- house lawyers. • The attorney specialising in white-collar criminal law can control the investigation in accordance with the rule of law and avoid mistakes that could jeopardise the use of the material obtained. • The attorney-client privilege is protected under Greek law. Any kind of communication between lawyer and client is protected. For this purpose, reporting can also remain part of the client-lawyer relationship. In this sense, a report cannot be filed without the client’s consent. • Interrogations will be properly conducted; the listing of findings will remain fact-related. Certain – normative – assessments against suspects will be avoided at this time if pos - sible. A fair trial will be ensured. • Data protection law will be considered in the collection and evaluation of the material. Thus, it must be ensured both that the mate - rial remains usable in court in the future and that the company’s board of management does not run any risk under criminal law when conducting an internal investigation. • On the basis of expertise and experience, all findings can be accurately evaluated from the point of view of criminal law. This is especially important when offences are investigated that can only be prosecuted at the request of the injured party (for example, most property crimes), and it applies both in cases where
Internal Investigations by Lawyers Specialised in White-Collar Crime
It is fundamental for the efficient conduct of an internal investigation to involve external investi -
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