Anti-corruption training programme in Greece

The Commission provided technical support to strengthen the capacity of the law enforcement authorities in Greece in preventing and fighting corruption through training and sustainable training resources.

Context

Corruption has negative consequences on growth and competitiveness. It also erodes public trust and the rule of law. An improved capacity and competence of authorities to prevent and fight corruption will lead to more sustainable results in the fight against corruption, in line with international and EU best practice.

Support delivered

The National Transparency Authority (former General Secretariat against Corruption) received support through several projects over the years; the technical support provided under the current project consisted of 12 training sessions organized in Greece (mainland and the islands). A total of 557 officials (prosecutors, judges, investigators) were trained in various topics such as:

• Evidence collection during economic crimes and crimes of corruption;
• Asset recovery and judicial cooperation;
• The bitcoin and its role in the corruption cases;
• Asset declarations as a useful tool to detect fraud and corruption;
• Special investigative techniques to prevent fraud and corruption;
• Data analysis;
• Forensic analytics.

Results achieved

The project had a remarkable regional impact, as training sessions were organised both on the mainland and on the islands, gathering participants from regional courts of appeal. Greek officials from the judiciary, prosecutorial services and law enforcement received training on fighting corruption and money laundering, notably the investigation and prosecution of bribery and fraud offences and evidence collection.

Training materials were centralized and published on the National Transparency Authority’s website. The participants assessed the training sessions with the average score of 9,4 out of 10.

The support received helped practitioners in becoming up-to-date with the latest investigative techniques in line with EU and international standards.