Greece

1. Does Greece have legislation making it a criminal offence to engage in money laundering and/or terrorist financing?

Yes, L. 4557/2018, as amended by L. 4734/2020 and 4816/2021 is the main legal instrument on preventing and combating money laundering and terrorist financing; it incorporates the provisions of Directive (EU) 2015/849,2018/843 and 2018/1673 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

2. To whom does the legislation apply?

Pursuant to Art. 5 of L. 4557/2018, the obliged entities include credit and financial institutions, chartered and private accountants, notaries and lawyers, when participating on behalf of their clients in certain financial or real estate transactions, service providers to companies, real estate brokers, casino companies, traders and auctioneers of high value goods, providers of digital wallet custody services, and others.

3. What does the legislation prohibit?

L. 4557/2018 prohibits all actions that constitute money laundering.

4. How is money laundering defined? Does underlying criminal activity have to be proven?

According to Art. 2 of L. 4557/2018, money laundering is defined as:

• converting or transferring of property while acknowledging that it originates from a criminal activity or from participation in such activity, with the aim of concealing its illegal origin, or providing assistance to anyone involved in this activity, in order to avoid the legal consequences of their actions;
• concealing the truth as to the nature, origin, disposition, distribution or use of property or the place where the property is located or the ownership thereof, or the rights relating thereto, while acknowledging that such property is derived from a criminal activity or from an act of participation in such activity;
• acquiring or possessing or using of property, while acknowledging, at the time of acquisition or at the time of possession or use, of the fact that the property is derived from a criminal activity or from an act of participation in such activity;

using the financial sector by placing or handling proceeds from criminal activities in order to legitimize such proceeds.

5. What level of intent or knowledge is required to establish a violation?

As mentioned hereinabove, it is required that the person acts in the knowledge of the origin of the assets (dolus directus) and for the purposes of concealing or covering up such origin.

6. What are the potential penalties for infringing the legislation?

For individuals, a penalty of incarceration of up to 15 years and a monetary fine of up to Euros 2M. For legal entities, an administrative fine ranging from Euros 50,000 to Euros 10M may be imposed. Besides the monetary fines, by virtue of Art. 46 of L. 4557/2018, failure to comply with the AML laws may lead to removal of the directors, the managing director, management officers or other employees for a certain period of time, permanent or temporary suspension of activities, prohibition of certain activities (such as increase of the share capital or establishment of new offices in Greece), ban from public tenders, etc. The duration of the suspension may not exceed three (3) months.

7. Does the legislation have extra-territorial reach?

In principle, AML legislation applies to natural and legal persons based in Greece or active within the Greek territory. Nevertheless, it also applies to citizens or non-citizens for offences that have been committed abroad, as long as the act constitutes an offence pursuant to the laws of the foreign country and the laundering act has been committed in Greece.

8. Are there additional anti-money laundering or counter terrorist financing regulations or obligations, such as registration or reporting obligations, for businesses or individuals that operate in particular sectors or undertake particular activities?

Pursuant to Law 4557/2018, all legal entities with registered offices in Greece are required to obtain and hold adequate, accurate and current information on their ultimate beneficial owners and record them in a UBO Registry. UBO is in principle defined as (i) any natural person(s) who ultimately owns or controls a legal entity through direct or indirect ownership or control of a sufficient percentage of shares or through control via other means, and (ii) any natural person(s)) on whose behalf a transaction or activity is conducted.

Law 4990/2022 being the implementation into Greek law of EU Directive 1937/2019 (“re the protection of whistleblowers”) introduces provisions for the protection of whistleblowers who report breaches of EU law, an obligation to appoint an Officer responsible to receive and manage reports, and an obligation to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure confidentiality; importantly, criminal sanctions and monetary fines are provided for non-compliance with provisions of Law 4990/2022

Law 4990/2022 primarily affects companies with 50 or more employees, also companies operating in financial sector services, products and markets, transport sector and environment sector regardless of the number of employees; such companies are obliged to put in place appropriate internal reporting channels to enable reporting of EU law violations, protect the confidentiality of the whistleblowers’ identity and ensure that whistleblowers are protected against retaliation

9. What are the potential penalties for failing to comply with these obligations?

A. In case of non – filing of the UBO, the following penalties may be imposed:

1. Suspension of the tax clearance certificate of the Greek entity;
2. Imposition of a fine ranging from Euro 5,000 to 40,000 depending on the net turnover of the obliged entity taking into account the fiscal year preceding the violation. Specifically, the following fines may be imposed: (a) five thousand (5,000) euros for legal persons and for profit legal entities with a net turnover of up to Euros 100,000, (b) ten thousand (10,000) euros, for legal persons and for profit legal entities with a net turnover of more than 100,000 euros up to 700,000 euros, (c) twenty thousand (20,000) euros, for legal persons and for profit legal entities with a net turnover of more than 700,000 euros up to 800,000 euros, (d) forty thousand (40,000), for legal persons and for profit legal entities with a net turnover of more than 8,000,000 euros.

B. In case of late filing of the UBO, the following penalties are triggered:

1. Suspension of the tax clearance certificate of the obligated Greek entity;
2. Imposition of a fine ranging from Euro 100 to 40,000 depending on the days of delay. More specifically, the following fines may be imposed: (a) one hundred (100) euros, in case the late declaration is made within one (1) month from the date of expiry of the 60 days’ deadline, (b) five hundred (500) euros in case one (1) month and up to three (3) months have passed from the date of expiry of the 60 days’ deadline, (c) in the event that three (3) months have passed from the lapse of the registration deadline, the late declaration is presumed not to have been submitted at all and stricter fines are imposed based on the company’s net turnover during the year preceding the violation (please refer to A(2) above).
3. In addition, in case of a delayed submission of the UBO application on the Central Registry, it is quite likely that an administrative fine of 102,40 € will be imposed to the company for late submission.

10. Who are the relevant enforcement authorities in Greece and what are their contact details?

Criminal law enforcement in Greece lies with the Prosecutor’s Office. Other enforcement agencies are: