Consequences of Issuing an Invalid Check in Transactional Life

The classic case, which is especially common in commercial life, is the issuance of an invalid check. But what are the legal consequences of such a criminal act?

Initially, under the provisions of article 79 of Law no. 5960/1933, issue of an invalid bank check, i.e. a check which, upon timely appearance at the paying bank, could not be paid due to lack of adequate funds.

According to law no. 5960/1933 of the Greek Criminal Code, issue of an invalid bank check, i.e. a check which, upon timely appearance at the paying bank, cannot be paid due to the lack of appropriate means, it is a criminal offense if the issuer acted with malicious intent, which is possible because, after the replacement of the original section 79 of Law no. 5960/1933 with article 1 of Law no. is no longer deliberately false.

According to the law no. 5960/1933 article 1 of the law no. no longer constitutes an element of the relevant offence. Thus, the issuer of a canceled check commits fraud not only when he knows that he does not have the appropriate funds at the time the check is issued or will not have the appropriate funds at the time of its payment, but also when he knows that in his account in this time may not be free funds, and admits such a possibility. The provisions of Article 79 of Law No. 5960/1933 were adopted to protect both the public and individual interests of the beneficiary of the check and, indeed, after the amendments and additions to the said article, Article 4 paragraph 1 of the law. 2408/1996, this interest is the predominant one protected.

Accordingly, issuing invalid of a bank check constitutes a tort for the issuer who has committed fraudulent acts in the indicated sense, which obliges him, in accordance with Article 914 of the AC, to reimburse the legal bearer of the check for an amount equal to the amount of the check. Issuer invalid the check is obliged to pay compensation to the bearer of the check, even if the check was dated, in which case he is liable in accordance with Articles 28, 29 para. 1 and 4 and 56 of the Law. 5960/1933 if a check is presented for payment at any time during the period beginning on the day after the date of its actual issue and ending on the eighth day after the date of issue indicated on the body of the check. This claim for compensation under section 914 AC is merged with the claim for the check and it is up to the beneficiary to decide which one to prefer, and only the satisfaction of one of them entails the redemption of the others, unless they require something more, and in this case they are preserved only in this respect.

In addition, it should be noted that, in accordance with Art. 1047(1)(b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, when suing for damages in a civil proceeding, the bearer of the check is also given the opportunity to pursue a personal reservation against the defendant issuer of the canceled check, and especially against the natural person who issued the check in any form and on behalf of the issuing company. Finally, it should be noted that this provision is not canceled by Art. 11 of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, according to which “No one can be imprisoned solely for failure to fulfill a contractual obligationbecause the provision obviously refers only to contractual and not tort obligations, and cannot be applied to the latter, since the conditions and intrinsic value of a tort are different from those of a breach of contract.

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