(Panama) More than thirty people are sent to court for their alleged involvement in the money laundering and tax evasion scandal by personalities around the world thanks to Panamanian lawyers and revealed in 2016 by the “Panama Papers”, announced Tuesday the Panamanian justice.
Posted at 7:36 p.m.
The Panamanian justice has decided “to initiate criminal proceedings against 32 citizens for the alleged offense of undermining the economic order by money laundering in the case known as the ‘Panama Papers'”, indicated the justice. Panamanian in a press release.
The trial should be held between November 15 and 18, 2022, said the Panamanian justice. The referral to justice of these 32 people had been requested by the Panamanian public prosecutor’s office in November 2021.
Judicial sources did not provide the names of the defendants, as is customary in Panama, but a source close to the case told AFP that lawyers Jürgen Mossack and Ramon Fonseca Mora, whose study is at the center of the scandal are among those referred to justice.
The actions of the Mossack-Fonseca study were revealed in 2016 by an investigation, known as the “Panama Papers”, carried out by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (CIJI).
The investigation, based on the leak of 11.5 million documents from the Mossack-Fonseca study, revealed in particular that heads of state and government, leading politicians and figures in finance, sports and the arts have hidden properties, businesses, capital and profits from the tax authorities.
Among the personalities mentioned are, among many others, the former heads of government of Iceland Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, Pakistan Nawaz Sharif and the United Kingdom David Cameron, the former president of Argentina Mauricio Macri, as well as the football star Lionel Messi and Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar.
The Mossack-Fonseca study had to cease all activity after the scandal broke.