Greece

WHITE-COLLAR and organized criminal activities are well established throughout Greece. Tax evasion, embezzlement of company funds, and the sale of fictitious insurance plans are examples of financial crimes conducted by white-collar criminals in the ancient nation. White-collar criminals also generate illicit funds through check, credit card, insurance and securities fraud, and embezzlement. The illicit profits garnered by white-collar criminals are routinely transferred through a variety of banking and non-banking institutions

For example, casinos, once nationalized, are now privatized, and create a potential vulnerability for money laundering. Additionally, Greek government bonds are held anonymously, purchased in cash, and ownership reporting is not required, so long as the value of the bonds remains under an approximately $15,000 threshold. Domestic media reports routinely link Greek organized criminal gangs to a variety of illicit activities, including drug trafficking, prostitution, arms smuggling, blackmail and gambling activities. The lack of a strong anti-money laundering regime also attracts foreign-based organized criminal gangs to Greece. Since the mid-1990s, a host of foreign criminal groups, including Albanian, Italian and Russian gangs entered Greece to establish a base for criminal activities.

Greece is not a major global money laundering center, but the country has considerable regional importance, due to its geographic position in relationship to the Middle East, the Balkans, and membership in the European Union. The civil strife in the Balkans, major drug trafficking and illicit smuggling through Albania and Kosovo, a range of criminal activities in Bulgaria, and drug trafficking out of Turkey provide opportunities for Greece to be a regional center for narcotics trafficking. Domestic and foreign gangs generate annual profits of $11.5 billion within the country. Organized criminal groups allegedly launder illicit funds through the Greek stock market, casinos, and, in some cases, banks.

The Greek stock exchange is allegedly a vehicle for laundering illicit proceeds raised by domestic and foreign-based criminal gangs. For instance, in March 2000, local Greek criminal gangs reportedly engaged in extensive money laundering of funds raised through extortion schemes through the Athens stock exchange and Athenian banks. The transfer of illicit profits is also facilitated by the nexus between individual Greek businessmen, and organized criminal gangs.

For instance, a hotel complex on the island of Kos allegedly generated nearly $800,000 through a narcotics smuggling partnership between Greek citizens and Colombian traffickers. Illicit profits were laundered through the Greek stock exchange and banking institutions in Greece and Switzerland. Media reports also allegedly link organized criminal gangs to the Greek shipping industry. From 1999–2003, there were public accounts in Greece of ongoing investigations by Greece's drug squad of large, multi-ton cocaine smuggling operations involving Greek ships.

The immense funds generated by domestic and foreign-based criminal networks results in bribes that corrupt political and law enforcement officials. International narcotics traffickers have reportedly infiltrated Greek law enforcement agencies. For example, a recent scandal resulted in the prosecution of seven anti-narcotics unit members of Greece's[Page 379] National Police Force for aiding Colombian narcotics traffickers.

The growth of domestic gangs and the influx of foreign-based criminal groups throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s are directly linked to the lack of a stringent anti-money-laundering policy regime in Greece. The increase in criminal activity in Greece attracted the attention of the European Union (EU). To maintain the status of an EU member state, Greece was required to increase efforts against domestic and international criminal gangs.

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