PANAMA CITY: A Panamanian court on Friday acquitted 28 people charged with money laundering in connection with the now-defunct law firm Mossack Fonseca, the epicentre of the “Panama Papers” international tax evasion scandal.

Among those acquitted were the firm’s founders, Jurgen Mossack and Ramon Fonseca, the latter of whom died in May in a Panamanian hospital.

During the trial, which was held in Panama City in April, the prosecution asked for 12 years in prison for the duo, the maximum sentence for money laundering. However, Judge Baloisa Marquinez acquitted the pair and 26 others after finding that evidence taken from the law firm’s servers had not been gathered in line with due process, raising doubts about its “authenticity and integrity,” a court statement said.

The judge also ruled that “the rest of the evidence was not sufficient and conclusive to determine the criminal responsibility of the defendants,” the court statement said.

Leaked documents from Mossack Fonseca in 2016 revealed how many of the world’s wealthy stashed assets in offshore companies, triggering scores of investigations around the globe.

Those implicated included former British premier David Cameron, Russian President Vladimir Putin, football star Lionel Messi, Argentina’s then-president Mauricio Macri and Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar, to name but a few.

Panamanian prosecutors had alleged that Mossack and Fonseca helped create opaque companies in which executives of the German multinational Siemens deposited millions of euros outside the company’s official accounts.

They were also charged with helping divert money from a massive fraud in Argentina. “Justice has been done, we are extremely satisfied with the ruling handed down by the judge,” Guillermina McDonald, lawyer for Mossack and other defendants, said.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2024