Greece - Combating Corruption
Bribery is considered a criminal act and the law provides severe penalties for infractions, although diligent implementation and enforcement of the law remains an issue. The problem is most acute in the area of government procurement, as political influence and other considerations are widely believed to play a significant role in the evaluation of bids. As a signatory of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Government Officials and all relevant EU-mandated anti-corruption agreements, the Greek Government is committed to penalizing those who commit bribery in Greece or abroad. The OECD Convention has been in effect since 1999.
Tackling financial crime within the existing, individual-oriented penal system, a system based on the traditional principles of responsibility and legality, will necessarily create a multitude of problems. In Greece, this system neither recognizes penal responsibility for corporations and other judicial persons nor allows penal prosecution of persons who simply exploit the law's shortcomings and loopholes, as is the case with most economic offenders.
International and domestic NGOs as well as U.S. firms believe that anticorruption efforts need to increase. Mutual accusations of corruption between political parties are frequent. New legislation (3691/2008) reorganized the government's efforts and strengthened its ability to combat money laundering and financial crimes.
The Greek Government has tried to fight corruption in public administration and has established a number of inspection bodies to investigate cases of corruption. The main authority is the Public Administration's Inspectors and Auditors Unit, established in 1997, at the Ministry of Interior. Independent inspection divisions exist at various Ministries and in the Greek Police and the Hellenic Coast Guard. Investigation procedures and preliminary inquiries on financial crimes come under the jurisdiction of a special unit in the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Special Audits Service (Greek acronym: YPEE). The responsibility for the prosecution of bribery cases lies with the Ministry of Justice. In cases where politicians are involved, the Greek Parliament decides whether parliamentary immunity should be lifted to allow a special court action to follow.
Corruption in the judiciary has been confronted more drastically than in the political world. Since mid-2004, the Greek judiciary is under continuing corruption investigation resulting in dismissals, suspension from duty, disciplinary action, even imprisonment in about 100 cases of corruption. Greece is also investigating whether German engineering group Siemens bribed companies and officials to win deals including the security contract for the 2004 Olympics. A prosecutor has filed charges and an investigating judge has launched an inquiry.
There is some room for optimism, particularly when it comes to the slowly increasing power of EU law within the Greek system. EU law was helping change, in some cases fundamentally, the way Greeks did business in a number of sectors including corporate governance, consumer protection, and the environment. There is also the positive influence of laws aimed at combating money laundering. "Know your customer" laws were helping to root out bribery and tax evasion in unexpected ways. The younger generation of Greeks believe in the benefits of individual initiative. These young people were doing well independent of the Greek state, which took them out of the closed circle of government benefits and payoffs.
Although the Prime Minister Karamanlis' oft repeated rhetorical stance against the problem was praiseworthy, it is going to take much more to achieve a fundamental change in the way the average Greek thinks and acts. One part of the problem is that, where an American is likely to see a well-defined line between corruption and legitimate business/political practices, the average Greek sees a wide swath of shades of gray. Using one's friends in high places to get something done that otherwise would be impossible -- a practice called "meson" -- is such a standard practice that it is sometimes difficult for even the most forthright Greek to know where the corruption line exists, if it exists at all.
Unfortunately, it appears corruption is so deep rooted in societal expectations that it will take years before fundamental change will be seen. One might think that the presence of 70,000 plus Greek-Americans in Greece with a knowledge of how things CAN work -- i.e. in the U.S. -- along with a knowledge of how things DO work in Greece, could change things for the better. Sadly, many Greek-Americans believe the Greek system is simply unredeemable. They tell of trying to build homes in their Greek villages and having to obtain endless permits from local bureaucrats, who refuse to do their jobs without extra remuneration. They cite customs officials who see almost every import as an opportunity for personal enrichment. Many related that they tried hard to bring their American standards back home with them only to give in to the "Greek way" through simple exhaustion. It is these conversations above all are a source of pessimistism about the posibility of reducing corruption generally in Greek society over the short term and medium term.
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