Eight years after the leak of 11 million secret financial documents, a court in Panama acquitted over two dozen defendants on Friday. Prosecutors had sought prison terms for money laundering related to the Panama Papers scandal, which revealed a network of tax havens involving figures like Lionel Messi and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote.
Panamanian prosecutors alleged that the law firm Mossack Fonseca and its associates used offshore companies to conceal money tied to illegal activities, including the Brazilian “car wash” corruption scandal involving Odebrecht. Some of these shell corporations were implicated in fraud, tax evasion, and circumventing international sanctions.
Judge Baloisa Marquinez cited a lack of conclusive evidence on the money laundering charges, questioning the authenticity and integrity of evidence collected from the law firm’s servers, which was not obtained according to due process.
Mossack Fonseca, once the world’s fourth-largest offshore law firm, faced significant scrutiny following the scandal. In response, Panama’s government introduced measures to disclose the ultimate beneficiaries of limited liability companies and their assets.
The leak of 11.5 million files to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists triggered global investigations, protests, and the resignation of Iceland’s prime minister amid revelations of offshore financial dealings involving prominent public figures.