A Panamanian court has acquitted 28 individuals charged with money laundering related to the now-defunct law firm Mossack Fonseca, the center of the “Panama Papers” international tax evasion scandal.
Among those acquitted were the firm’s founders, Jurgen Mossack and Ramon Fonseca. Fonseca passed away in May in a Panamanian hospital. The trial, held in Panama City in April, saw prosecutors seeking the maximum 12-year prison sentence for the pair on money laundering charges.
Judge Baloisa Marquinez acquitted the founders and 26 others, citing concerns about the evidence’s authenticity and integrity, which had been taken from the law firm’s servers without proper due process. The court statement noted that the remaining evidence was not sufficient and conclusive to establish the defendants’ criminal responsibility.
The Panama Papers, a massive leak of financial documents in April 2016, exposed how the world’s wealthy used offshore companies to stash assets and evade taxes. High-profile figures implicated included former British Prime Minister David Cameron, Russian President Vladimir Putin, football star Lionel Messi, Argentina’s then-president Mauricio Macri, and Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar.
Panamanian prosecutors had accused Mossack and Fonseca of creating opaque companies for executives of the German multinational Siemens to deposit millions of euros outside official accounts. They were also charged with aiding in diverting money from a major fraud in Argentina.
Guillermina McDonald, the lawyer for Mossack and other defendants, expressed satisfaction with the ruling, though she noted the sadness over Fonseca’s passing before the acquittal. “Justice has been done, we are extremely satisfied with the ruling handed down by the judge,” McDonald told AFP.
The trial began eight years after the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) started publishing the Panama Papers on April 3, 2016. The investigation, based on 11.5 million leaked documents from Mossack Fonseca, detailed how global figures hid properties, companies, assets, and profits to evade taxes or launder money. The scandal led to Mossack Fonseca’s closure and highlighted Panama’s reputation as an offshore tax haven.
ICIJ executive director Gerard Ryle commented on the ruling, emphasizing the lasting impact of the investigation. “While the court did not hold these defendants accountable, the enduring impact of our investigation persists,” Ryle said. “By revealing hidden truths, as we did in the Panama Papers, we empower the public with information they need to demand accountability and push for reforms.”
Offshore companies are not inherently illegal and can serve legitimate purposes. However, they can also be misused to launder proceeds of criminal activities or conceal misappropriated or politically sensitive wealth.
“Truly there has been a great injustice that has been done,” Mossack remarked after the hearing. “Both my partner and all the people who have worked with me have been serious, honest, and correct people.”
