{"id":35391,"date":"2024-04-12T19:06:12","date_gmt":"2024-04-13T00:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/?p=35391"},"modified":"2024-04-12T19:06:13","modified_gmt":"2024-04-13T00:06:13","slug":"panama-papers-trial-begins-of-27-mossack-fonseca-employees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/panama-papers-trial-begins-of-27-mossack-fonseca-employees\/","title":{"rendered":"Panama Papers: trial begins of 27 Mossack Fonseca employees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A criminal trial of 27 employees working for the law firm at the heart of the Panama Papers<\/a> on money laundering charges has commenced in a Panamanian court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eight years ago, leaked financial records from the law firm Mossack Fonseca sparked international outrage at the use of offshore companies by wealthy individuals to commit tax fraud and hide assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2016, files from Mossack Fonseca were leaked to reporters at the German newspaper S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung and shared with the US-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Reporters from more than 100 media organisations, including the Guardian, collaborated to investigate the 11.5m files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The firm\u2019s founders, J\u00fcrgen Mossack and Ram\u00f3n Fonseca Mora, are among those facing charges. They have previously denied any allegations against them, arguing that they had no control over the offshore companies that the firm set up for its clients. If convicted, they reportedly face up to 12 years in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Associated Press<\/a>, Mossack attended the hearing to declare his innocence, telling reporters outside the courtroom that he was \u201cvery optimistic\u201d. A representative for Fonseca told the court that his client was in hospital.<\/span>

Battered by international criticism, Panama adopted new legislation modernising the country\u2019s legal definition of money laundering in 2019. Aspects of the charges against the Mossack Fonseca employees concern activities predating the change in the law, which could complicate prosecutors\u2019 attempts to convict them,\u00a0according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists<\/a>.Panama\u2019s supreme court previously ruled that creating shell companies used for tax fraud could not be considered a crime if the companies in question were created prior to 2019.Mossack and Fonseca were both\u00a0acquitted of separate charges<\/a>\u00a0two years ago after a judge directed that the firm did not handle or attempt to hide money stolen from Brazil as part of a major corruption scandal involving the state oil company codenamed\u00a0Lava<\/em>\u00a0Jato<\/em>\u00a0or the Car Wash.Offshore companies linked more than 100 politicians from around the world, including 12 national leaders, were discovered by journalists analysing the Panama Papers. They included $2bn in an offshore company belonging to the Russian cellist Sergei Roldugin, the friend of the President Vladimir Putin.<\/p>