Corruption

The term corruption covers various offenses in which a position of trust in a function in administration, justice, business, politics or even in non-economic associations or organizations (for example foundations) is abused in order to obtain a material or immaterial advantage to which there is no legally justified entitlement.

Bribery of public officials is committed by anyone who offers, promises or grants an advantage to a public official or to a person specially obliged to perform public service for that person or a third party in return for the fact that that person has performed or will perform an official act and has thereby violated or would violate his official duties.

General penalty range: 1-5 years of prison; 5-10 years of prison for benefits exceeding 120,000 euros; for damages against the state and legal entities under public law exceeding 150,000 euros, the penalty range is 5-20 years and, under certain circumstances, life imprisonment.

Since the enactment of Law 3560/2007, bribery in the private sector has also been punishable if the offender, in the course of their business activities, bribes a human resources manager or another person working in the private sector to breach their duty. This occurs when, in commercial transactions for the purposes of competition, someone offers, promises, or grants an advantage to an employee or agent of a business enterprise for that person or a third party in return for unfairly granting that employee or another person preferential treatment in the procurement of goods or commercial services.

Common reasons for bribing an employee include avoiding detection of tax, health and urban planning violations, which are subject to high fines and penalties, as well as failing to carry out an inspection to avoid the arrest of the perpetrator for committing other crimes (e.g., failing to carry out customs controls so that smuggling or illegal immigration does not have to be detected).

Bribery in office occurs when a public official, judge or someone with special obligations to public service demands, promises or accepts an advantage for themselves or a third party in return for having performed or to perform an official act and thereby violates their official duties.

General penalty range: 1-5 years of imprisonment (and a fine of €10,000-€500,000 if the offender is a tax or customs official); 5-10 years of imprisonment for benefits exceeding €120,000 or for officials of the Ministry of Finance; for damages against the state and legal entities under public law exceeding €150,000, the penalty range is 5-20 years, and under certain circumstances, life imprisonment.

Since the enactment of Law 3560/2007, bribery in the private sector has also been punished if a human resources manager or other person working in the private sector accepts a bribe to breach their duties. This offense is committed if an employee or agent of a business enterprise, in the course of business, demands, accepts, or accepts an advantage for themselves or a third party in return for unfairly favoring another in the procurement of goods or commercial services.

In practice, bribery of tax, customs and police officials is common practice for failing to conduct an investigation, failing to detect an infringement, failing to impose fines, failing to file a criminal complaint or even demanding benefits from a hospital doctor for the purpose of carrying out an examination or operation or issuing an (often false) medical certificate.