Panama City: In a significant legal outcome, a Panamanian court has acquitted all 28 individuals charged with money laundering related to the Panama Papers scandal, following a trial that began in April.
The secret financial documents, Panama Papers, were leaked in 2016, and it exposed how some of the world’s wealthiest and most influential individuals utilized offshore tax havens to hide their wealth.
Among those cleared of charges were Jurgen Mossack and the late Ramon Fonseca, founders of Mossack Fonseca, the defunct law firm at the centre of the scandal.
Judge Baloisa Marquinez cited insufficient evidence for the acquittal, stating that the evidence presented did not establish criminal responsibility for the defendants.
The trial was held in Panama City, which spanned 85 hours and involved testimony from 27 witnesses, and considered over 50 pieces of documentary evidence. Throughout the trial, the prosecution had sought a maximum sentence of 12 years for money laundering against Mossack and Fonseca. Despite these allegations, both Mossack and Fonseca denied any illegal activity committed by themselves or their firm.
The judge said the evidence collected from Mossack Fonseca’s servers had not been gathered in line with due process and dropped all criminal charges against the defendants.
The Panama Papers leak, the biggest data leak in history, witnessed 11 million documents released to the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung and shared with an international team of journalists.
Mossack Fonseca asserted in 2017 that their firm had fallen victim to a cyber-attack, emphasising that the leaked information had been misrepresented.
The scandal included numerous prominent figures, including former British Prime Minister David Cameron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and Argentine football icon Lionel Messi, whose financial affairs came under scrutiny following the leak.
The leaked data also exposed ties to 12 current or former heads of state and government, including leaders accused of embezzling funds from their respective nations.
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