Court acquits 28 "Panama Papers" defendants
In the spring of 2016, a media network exposed a massive financial fraud in the "Panama Papers." Politicians, athletes, and other prominent figures like Lionel Messi or Vladimir Putin are alleged to have hidden their assets in over 215,000 shell companies in tax havens. However, the responsible parties were surprisingly acquitted.
Eight years after the global financial scandal of the "Panama Papers" was unveiled, the 28 defendants, including the German lawyer Jürgen Mossack, were surprisingly acquitted, as announced by the court in Panama City. Additionally, the judge Baloísa Marquínez ordered the termination of the criminal proceedings against the now deceased Ramón Fonseca Mora. The prosecution had demanded twelve years in prison for both.
During the investigation, the evidence from the servers of the now defunct Mossack Fonseca law firm was not traceable. The remaining evidence was furthermore not sufficient and conclusive, according to the judge. The defendants were accused of money laundering through the establishment of 215,000 shell companies in tax havens, in which politicians, celebrities, and athletes were alleged to have hidden their assets.
A Lawyer from Fürth
In the spring of 2016, the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" and other investigative journalism networks, including the ICIJ, revealed the dealings of the Panamanian-based shell companies. Through a massive data leak, 11.5 million documents were leaked to the newspaper. Nearly 400 reporters from over 80 countries participated in the investigations.
The prosecution held Mossack and Fonseca responsible for making it easier for their law firm to establish opaque companies, such as those in which managers of the Siemens corporation were alleged to have deposited millions of euros outside the company's actual accounts. These companies were reportedly used to hide money from commissions.
Mossack, who is 76 years old, is a lawyer from Fürth in Bavaria. In the early 1960s, his family emigrated from Germany to Panama, where he studied law and worked in various law firms in Panama City and London. In the 1980s, he founded the law firm with Fonseca, which specialized in shell companies. In 2018, the law firm announced that it would cease operations due to "irreparable" damage to its image.
Messi, David Cameron, and Putin
The Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and the Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif resigned after the publication of the "Panama Papers." Former British Prime Minister and current Foreign Secretary David Cameron and football star Lionel Messi were also mentioned in the documents. The name of Russian President Vladimir Putin was also disclosed. Former Argentine President Mauricio Macri and Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar were also reportedly involved.
The "Spiegel" quotes estimates that more than 1.3 billion dollars in fines and taxes were collected after the publication of the "Panama Papers."
Despite the collection of over 1.3 billion dollars in fines and taxes following the revelation of the "Panama Papers", the legal proceedings against the key figures involved, including Jürgen Mossack and Ramón Fonseca Mora, resulted in acquittals. The acquittals occurred eight years after the initial expose of the extensive tax fraud, where prominent figures like Lionel Messi, Vladimir Putin, and former British Prime Minister David Cameron were accused of hiding assets in over 215,000 shell companies.
