GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Ilias G. Anagnostopoulos and Padelis V. Bratis, ANAGNOSTOPOULOS
by professional privilege (eg, a financial crime prosecutor). Nonetheless, attorney-client privi - lege remains intact, as explicitly prescribed by law (Article 36 GCCP). The attorney-client privilege can be undermined, either upon the voluntary decision of the client or where an attorney is individually involved in the commission of criminal acts.
4557/2018) has been amended (by virtue of the recent Law 4734/2020) to include “virtual cur- rencies” . More specifically, the above term refers to the digital representation of a value that is not issued by a central bank or public authority nor has their guarantee, and that is not necessarily linked to legally circulating currency nor has the legal sta - tus of currency or money, yet is accepted by natural or legal entities as a means of transac - tion and may be transferred, stored or circulated electronically. Consequently, freezing orders or equivalent actions are, in principle, applicable to said types of assets, though the pertinent field awaits fur - ther regulation.
7. Special Rules and Laws 7.1 Rules for Claiming Punitive or Exemplary Damages
There are no such provisions under Greek law. 7.2 Laws to Protect “Banking Secrecy” Article 3 of Legislative Decree No 1059/1971 on Bank Secrecy, as amended by Act 1858/1989, stipulates that release of information on bank accounts is allowed, if it is necessary for the purposes of the investigation or punishment of a serious crime. In order to release such information, an order by the competent judicial council at the request of the investigating judge (who carries out the main investigation) or of the prosecutor (who carries out the preliminary investigation or the summary investigation) is necessary. The same power is conferred on the court at the trial stage. 7.3 Crypto-Assets In accordance with EU Directives 2019/2177 and 2018/843, the notion of “property” (as defined by Article 3 of Anti-Money Laundering Law
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