Ovvadias Namias

Practice Areas

Ovvadias provides consulting services and in-court assistance in criminal cases of fraud, (breach of trust, corruption), bribery, tax evasion, customs office offences, stock exchange offences, insider trading, market abuse, legalization of profits from illegal activities (money laundering), personal data as well as in cases of European criminal law, extradition and mutual legal assistance.

Ovvadias is also experienced in conducting internal investigations, especially in banks and NGOs and other corporations and in drafting internal corporate rules.

The practice areas of the Firm are, among others, Money Laundering, Corruption - Bribery, Breach of trust – Fraud- Embezzlement, Internal Corporate Investigations, Corporate Penal Law, Medical Penal Law, Control and monitoring of the regulatory compliance, Banking offences – Stock Exchange Offences, European and International Penal Law- Extradition and mutual assistance, Penal Environmental Law.

Career

Ovvadias S. Namias, the Managing Partner of "OVVADIAS S. NAMIAS LAW FIRM", was born in Athens in 1964. He graduated from the Law School of the University of Athens in 1987 and concluded his thesis in Penal Law at the University of Bonn in Germany, with a grant from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (1992).

His PhD Thesis re “Die Zurechnung von Folgeschäden im Strafrecht”, ("Inconviction of the subsequent results (repercussion) in Penal Law)", University of Bonn, Germany, was published in 1992.

Ovvadias lectured Penal Law at the Law School of the University of Athens as a Special Scientific Associate (2002-2006). Ovvadias was an Attorney at Law of the National Bank of Greece specializing in financial penal issues from 1999 to 2006.

He was awarded the Babakos Prize by the Hellenic Criminal Bar Association in 2001.

Professional Memberships

Ovvadias is a member of the Athens Bar Association since 1993 and a member of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Criminal Bar Association from 2004 up to 2022.

Publications

Ovvadias has published his thesis and numerous articles in legal journals. He lectures regularly at conferences on criminal law and criminal procedure. The full list of his publications and his lectures is available at the following link: http://www.namiaslaw.gr/en/publications

Lectures:

Ovvadias regularly lectures at national and international conferences. His most recent lectures include:

• “Defence in the Extradition procedure, in the European Arrest Warrant and in the European Investigation Order”, lecture in the framework of the 6th meeting of Training Penal Law Seminars, March 30th, 2021, (organized by the Hellenic Criminal Bar Association).

• “The enhanced role of the Prosecutor and the upgraded preliminary examination under the new Code of Criminal Procedure”, Ancient Olympia, 27-28.09.2019, (conference organized by the Athens Bar Association).

• “The rule of specialty in evidence exchange law through judicial assistance”, Athens, 15-16.03.2019, (8th conference organized by the Hellenic Criminal Bar Association).

• “Τhe pathogenesis of tax criminal law in the example of tax deductive identification and the indirect determination of taxable item”, Lecture in the conference "Topical Issues of Tax Law", organized by the Union of Greek Legal e-themis, on 16 and 17 December 2016 in Athens.

• “Bribery and money laundering. Legal issues in the coherence between the two crimes”, lecture in the 6th conference of the Hellenic Criminal Bar Association with the subject “The penal treatment of bribery: Possibilities and limits”, Athens, 31.05 – 1.06.2013.

• Comments on the draft law of the Ministry of Justice “for a fair trial and the encounter of the denial of justice”, lecture in the framework of a conference organized by the Hellenic Criminal Bar Association in the Athens Bar Association in 11.01.2012. Issues developed: (i) personal appearance before the Judicial Councils, (ii) One-member Penal Court of Appeal, and (iii) Deferrals provided in article 349 of the Code of Penal Procedure”.

• “Aspects of the expansionary effect of the criminal legal remedies”, lecture in the conference organized by the Hellenic Association of Legal Procedure Specialists, Athens Bar Association, 01.12.2009.

Publications

• The ever-increasing application of internal investigations in businesses and their contribution to the quality and speed of the administration of criminal justice in Greece, published in Nova Criminalia, issue 17, pages 6-8, February 2023.

• Overview of the Greek legal framework in relation to bribery and corruption, (Bribery and Corruption), 2022, (with Vasileios Petropoulos and Ilias Spyropoulos), 9th ed., (2022), Global Legal Insights (GLI), Global Legal Group, pages 89-98.

• Anti-corruption, Greece: Trends and Developments (with Vasileios Petropoulos and Ilias Spyropoulos), Chambers: Global Practice Guides, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.

• “Key developments related to anti-corruption legislation and investigations in Greece”, Publication in Anti-Corruption 2021, Global interview panel led by Miller & Chevallier Chartered, Lexology – Getting the Deal Through (2021), (with Vasileios Petropoulos and Ilias Spyropoulos), pages 85-101.

• Article published in “The Washington Times”, on July 7th, 2021. The article was included in a Business and Investment Report for The Washington Times, a special edition to celebrate the historical milestone of the bicentennial since the Greek Revolution of 1821.

• Overview of the Greek legislative and regulatory framework related to regulatory compliance and internal investigations, European Investigations Guide, Hogan Lovells, 2021, p. 117-123, (with Vasileios Petropoulos).

• “Key developments related to anti-corruption legislation and investigations in Greece”, Publication in Anti-Corruption 2020, Global interview panel led by Miller & Chevallier Chartered, Lexology – Getting the Deal Through (2020), (with Vasileios Petropoulos and Ilias Spyropoulos), pages 109-123.

• “The rule of specialty in evidence exchange law through judicial assistance”, published in the book in honor of Professor Ioannis Giannidis, (2020).

• “When excessive prosecutions may cause, in some cases, the adoption of excessive legislation, opinion in response of the example of the complaint submitted by the victim for fraud in the banking sector”, published in Nova Criminalia, issue 11, pages 4-5, November 2020.

• Overview of the Greek legal framework in relation to bribery and corruption, Bribery and Corruption, Global Legal Insights (GLI), 6th ed. (year 2019) and 7th ed. (year 2020), 8th edition 2021, Greece, (with Vasileios Petropoulos), Global Legal Group.

• “Greece: Overview of the areas of compliance and internal investigations, Legal framework”, European Investigations Guide, Hogan Lovells, 2018, p.100-106, (with Vasileios Petropoulos).

• “Τhe pathogenesis of tax criminal law in the example of tax deductive identification and the indirect determination of taxable item", Penal Chr. 2017, 236, (the text is an enriched version of the lecture in the conference "Topical Issues of Tax Law", organized by the Union of Greek Legal e-themis on 16 and 17 December 2016 in Athens).

• “Bribery and money laundering. Legal issues in the coherence between the two crimes”, (the text is an enriched version of the lecture in the 6th conference of the Hellenic Criminal Bar Association with the subject “The penal treatment of bribery: Possibilities and limits”, Athens, 31.05 – 1.06.2013), Published by the Hellenic Criminal Bar Association, editor Nomiki Vivliothiki 2013, pages 271-289.

• Comments on the draft law of the Ministry of Justice on the “fair trial and the treatment of cases of denial”, Penal Chronicles, 2012, 148.

Personal

Ovvadias is a member of Athens Bar Association since 1993.

Industry Sector Expertise

OVVADIAS S. NAMIAS – LAW FIRM provides legal services to natural persons and legal entities that extend to the whole spectrum of Penal Law, with particular emphasis on the financial penal law and the international court assistance in penal cases. The company offers to domestic and foreign legal entities (Banking companies, Stock-exchange companies, Telecommunications companies etc.) its wide knowledge and experience on issues concerning corporate penal liability and compliance with the provisions of Penal Law, while it has established and maintains co-operation with major civil law firms in matters of penal concern. The scientific training and the experience of its members in the handling of penal cases ensures the best possible legal representation of its clients before a court as well as at a consulting level.

Languages Spoken

German, English and French