“Panama Papers”: The start of the trial of 27 people accused in a global money laundering case

PANAMA CITY (AP) – Trial of 27 people accused in connection with the world “Panama Papers” The money laundering operations began Monday in a Panamanian criminal court.

Among those on trial are the owners of the law firm Mossack-Fonseca, which was at the heart of the massive 2016 document leak.

The Panama Papers include a set of 11 million confidential financial documents It shows how some of the world's richest people hide their money.

The ramifications of the leaks were far-reaching, prompting the resignation of Iceland's prime minister and forcing scrutiny on the leaders of Argentina and Ukraine, Chinese politicians, Russian President Vladimir Putin and others.

The often-delayed trial opened on Monday, with lawyers Jürgen Mossack, Ramon Fonseca and other former representatives, lawyers or employees of the company facing money laundering charges.

Mossack was present in the courtroom and said: “I am not guilty of such acts.”

Fonseca's lawyers said he was in a hospital in Panama.

The case centers on allegations that the company created shell companies to acquire real estate in Panama with money from anyone Brazil's sprawling corruption scheme known as Car WashOr lava gato in Portuguese.

Fonseca said the company, which closed in 2018, had no control over how its customers used the marine vehicles designed for them. Both Mossack and Fonseca hold Panamanian citizenship, and Panama does not extradite its citizens.

Both They were acquitted of further charges in 2022.

The records were first leaked to the German daily Suddeutsche Zeitung, and were shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which began publishing collaborative reports with news organizations in 2016.

US federal prosecutors alleged that Mossack Fonseca conspired to circumvent US laws to preserve the wealth of its clients and hide tax money owed to the IRS. They claimed that the scheme dated back to 2000 and involved shell institutions and front companies in Panama, Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands.

___

Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean on https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america