A National Authority Committee was established under Presidential decree, N°401/10.12.96, in order to collect, assess, and investigate information of transactions suspected of being linked to money laundering.
The Committee is under a statutory obligation to forward the relevant file, all acquired information, its investigatory findings and its opinion to the public prosecutor if it concurs that a transaction is suspicious. When suspicions are believed to be unfounded, the cases are kept in the Committee’s archives for possible use in other domestic or international investigations.
The Committee must complete its investigations within 5 days of receipt of the report or other information concerning a possible breach of money laundering legislation.
The Committee also assists other similar foreign organisations, helping to evaluate and investigate information on income derived from criminal activities.
On 4 August 2008, Complinet reported that the Greek Parliament passed a law to replace its National independent anti-money laundering body with a new Finance Industry Committee aimed at tackling economic crime and money laundering [1].
Yes. As of 5 August 2008, Law No. 3691 successfully implemented the Third EU Money Laundering Directive. This was published in the Official Government Gazette (Issue 1, No. 186).
Law 3691/2008 successfully implemented the Third EU Money Laundering Directive.
Yes. To the full extent that Greek lawyers are.
Yes. The Law Society is compelled to encourage full adherence to anti-money laundering regulation by all its members.
Lawyers are not under a formal obligation to take information/details from clients regarding their identities, and no evidence was presented to the evaluation team to suggest that they are doing so.
No.
Yes.
Yes.
No.
Lawyers must report suspicious activities when assisting clients with transactions relating to the purchase or sale of real property or business entities, managing clients’ assets, opening or managing bank or securities accounts, and organising contributions for the creation, operation, or management of companies, including offshore companies.
An exception from reporting applies to information acquired by the lawyer before, during, or after trial or in the court of ascertaining the legal position of the client. However, if the lawyer knows or seriously suspects that the client is seeking legal advice for the purpose of committing money laundering, the lawyer must report the relevant information regardless of the foregoing exception.
No.
DOES LOCAL LAW PROVIDE ANY CRIMINAL AND/OR CIVIL INDEMNITY TO A LAWYER WHO HAS REPORTED A SUSPICIOUS TRANSACTION?
No because it is the duty of the lawyer to make the report.
Yes.
Article 4.16 imposes a penalty for the breach of the tipping-off prohibition which is punishable with imprisonment of up to 2 years and a fine.
There are currently no restrictions on accepting new clients.
There are currently no ongoing monitoring requirements for existing clients.
A lawyer is under a continuous obligation to report offenders.
In August 2006 a Greek judge was sentenced in the first degree to 86 years of imprisonment for corruption offences, bribery and conspiracy, seven lawyers were sentenced to jail for a period of four years for related offences, and another female judge has fled the country due to criminal charges pending against her. This is the first trial in a series of trials that will take place in the near future as regards corruption offenses and as part of the “cleaning-up of the judicial body” policy of the present cabinet. [2]
Yes. FATF conducted the “Third Mutual Evaluation on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism” in Greece on 29 June 2007.
In accordance with Section 4, of the report “Preventive Measures – Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions” (page 11), lawyers are subject to the legislation when they engage in the range of activities covered by the FATF Recommendations. Furthermore, Sub-section 4.2 “Customer due diligence and record-keeping” on p. 138 – cl. 673: “ :Lawyers. Lawyers are not under a formal obligation to take identity information from clients, and no evidence was presented to the evaluation team to suggest that they are doing so.” .
The FATF expressed concerns over the potential abuses by lawyers of the wide-spread client privilege tool when dealing with suspected money laundering, especially as Legal advice remains subject to the obligation of professional secrecy, unless the legal counsellor himself/herself is involved in money laundering or counsels the commission of money laundering or knows that the client is seeking legal advice for the purpose of committing money laundering (page 23).
The report is available to download from the FAFT website.
Information Supplied by:
Emmanuel S. Ioannides
IBA Member
Jurist
Economic Crime Expert / IR Expert
Email: esi@otenet.gr
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Sources