A Panamanian court trial that began in April ended with the acquittal of all 28 people charged with money laundering offenses related to the Panama Papers scandal.
The secret financial documents, leaked in 2016, revealed how some of the world’s richest and most powerful people used tax havens to hide their wealth.
Those acquitted include Jurgen Mossack and the late Ramon Fonseca, founder of law firm Mossack Fonseca, Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the center of the scandal, has since closed.
Judge Baloisa Marquines said the evidence considered by the court was “insufficient” to establish the defendant’s criminal responsibility.
During the trial, prosecutors sought a maximum sentence of 12 years in prison for Mr. Mossack and Mr. Fonseca on money laundering charges. People who died in hospital in May.
Both Mossack and Fonseca deny that they, their companies or their employees acted illegally.
The trial, which reportedly took place in Panama City, lasted 85 hours, heard testimony from 27 witnesses and considered more than 50 pieces of documentary evidence. local news coverage.
After lengthy deliberations, the judge said evidence collected from Mossack Fonseca’s server had not been gathered in accordance with due process and dropped all criminal charges against the defendants.
The largest data breach in history was the Panama Papers, which leaked 11 million documents from the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared them with a team of international journalists.
In 2017, law firm Mossack Fonseca said the company was the victim of a computer hack and that leaked information had been distorted.
foreign secretary David CameronUkraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and argentinian football star lionel messi is one of those whose affairs have come under scrutiny following leaks.
In total, the data revealed links to 12 current or former heads of state and government, including dictators accused of misappropriating funds from their countries.
