In the global case known as the Panama Papers, a judge has cleared 28 individuals accused of money laundering. Among them is the co-founder of a legal practice that the government claims was at the core of an effort to conceal funds associated with illicit activity.
With his then-colleague Ramón Fonseca, who passed away in May, Jürgen Mossack created Mossack & Fonseca. Mossack and the other defendants were cleared on Friday, when a Panamanian court determined that the evidence used against Mossack was not consistent with the chain of possession following an agency raid.
Mossack, Fonseca, and other defendants were charged by the prosecution with setting up offshore corporations and engaging in intricate financial transactions to conceal funds from illicit activities linked to the “car wash corruption scandal” involving the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.
Odebrecht entered a guilty plea in a U.S. federal court to a charge of using shell companies to conceal millions of dollars in bribes paid globally to secure public contracts.
In the Panama Papers case, the judge stated that additional evidence “was not sufficient and conclusive to determine the criminal responsibility of the accused.”
According to a judicial statement, the judge also removed preventative measures on all of the defendants’ personal belongings.
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Defense lawyer Guillermina Mc Donald for Mossack and Fonseca said, “We feel satisfied in the midst of mixed emotions, because many lives were affected along the way.” Also, her firm acted as a representative for 80% of the accused firm’s associates.
The decision was made by Judge Balaoisa Marquínez to merge the Panama Papers case with “Operation Car Wash,” a significant anti-corruption probe that started in Brazil.
It was not possible to detect the entry of money from unlawful sources, originating from Brazil, into the Panamanian financial system with the intention of hiding, concealing, disguising, or aiding in the evasion of the legal repercussions of the previous crime, the judge declared on Friday in the car wash case.
In a different case involving money laundering, Mossack, Fonseca, and 37 other individuals were found not guilty in June 2022.
The Brazilian probe started in 2014, and the Mossack & Fonseca law firm was later under investigation following the disclosure of 11 million financial records related to the business.
The revelation had far-reaching consequences, including the resignation of Iceland’s prime minister and increased scrutiny of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese lawmakers, and now-formal leaders of Argentina and Ukraine.
