A court in Panama dismissed the charges against 28 people accused of money laundering related to the Panamanian law firm "Mossac Fonseca" , which was the epicenter of the international "Panama Papers" scandal, reported France Press, quoted by BTA.
Among those affected by the court decision are the firm's founders - Ramon Fonseca and Jürgen Mossak. However, Fonseca died on May 9 in a Panamanian hospital at the age of 71.
During the trial, prosecutor Isis Soto asked for a maximum sentence of 12 years for Fonseca and Mossack. But the judge in the case considered that the evidence collected from the law firm's servers did not allow establishing with certainty their authenticity and integrity and did not meet the rules of traceability. In addition, the remaining evidence was not sufficient to establish the guilt of the accused.
The "Panama Papers" scandal erupted in 2016 following the publication of an investigation by the same name by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism. The investigation was based on the leak of 11.5 million documents from the firm Mossack Fonseca. and revealed that state and government leaders, politicians, financiers, athletes, artists hid properties, companies, capital and profits from the tax authorities. In this evasion, the Panamanian law firm also served as an intermediary to open accounts for shell companies in several countries where the money from unpaid taxes, some of which also came from illegal activities, was stashed away.
After the persons mentioned in the investigation were the Russian President Vladimir Putin, the former Prime Ministers of Pakistan, Great Britain and Iceland, Nawaz Sharif, David Cameron and Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, the former President of Argentina Mauricio Macri, the soccer star Lionel Messi, the Spanish director Pedro Almodovar.
The scandal led to the closing of the law firm, and the image of Panama was badly affected.
During the case, the prosecution accused the lawyers Mossack and Fonseca of having facilitated the creation of special companies through their office, in which, for example, employees of the company "Siemens" have invested millions of euros outside the real accounts of the German giant. This so-called "Cash B" was used to conceal money paid for commissions.
The Panamanian office was also used to deposit money coming from a fraud scheme in Argentina, prosecutors in the case said.
But the lawyer for several people in the trial, including Mossack, Huilermina Macdonald, said there were flaws in the court procedures and proceedings. During the court hearing, Mossack stated that he and many people who worked with him had been treated with great injustice. He said that all these people, including the late Fonseca, were honest, serious and decent people.