The "Panama Papers" aka "Pandora Papers"

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Understanding Offshore Accounts

Posted 04/10/2021

AFP - Whether on sunny islands or in less exotic lands, the financial arrangements through tax-advantaged companies (offshore ) revealed by the Pandora Papers are at the center of strategies for wealthy clients to hide their fortune. These are some keys.

What is an 'offshore' company?
-It is a company created in a country or territory in which the beneficiary does not reside, but whose advantages are often of three types: discretion, flexible regulation and an attractive tax regime.

The term offshore (literally "off the coast"), historically, referred to the domiciliation of these companies in these island jurisdictions, which base their economic model on the offer of financial services.

The term has continued to be used although many times, today, these companies are based far from the tropics, as in the state of South Dakota (northern United States), to which the Pandora Papers allude. The British Virgin Islands, Belize and Singapore, among others, are also cited.

Unlike the international subsidiaries of companies, offshore companies do not carry out any economic activity in the territory in which they are domiciled.

Capital invested in companies and offshore bank accounts would represent 10.4% of world GDP in 2016, according to the latest figures available from the European Commission.

What are they for?
"There are many reasons" for resorting to them, Ronen Palan, professor of International Economic Policy at the University of London , told AFP . “Keep the secret from the tax authorities, from competitors, from your wife, your husband. The use of these structures seeks to keep a form of secrecy”.

In a globalized economy, this type of setup can be useful to large groups, for fiscal optimization purposes.

Its opacity also makes it easier for its beneficiaries to hide assets from the treasury or participate in illegal activities such as corruption, trafficking or the financing of terrorism.

Is it legal?
It is not forbidden to create an offshore company , but you must declare it to the tax authorities of the country where you reside and, if it is the case, pay the corresponding taxes for those assets.

In the revelations of the Pandora Papers there are mixed cases of supposed concealment of these montages from the authorities for several million dollars, and fiscal optimization strategies that are legal.

The 11.9 million documents that the research consortium has brought to light cast doubt on the morality of some decisions, such as the recourse to fiscal optimization by political leaders who preach exemplarity, or the legality of financial arrangements that deprive the treasury of considerable sums and that exacerbate inequalities.

What role do intermediaries play?
Law firms, accountants or tax specialists are fundamental pieces of the gear of offshore financial setups and their activity has been called into question in the disclosures.

Notaries are also suspected, for allegedly not having verified with sufficient precision the origin of funds in property sales.

After the Panama Papers scandal, in 2016, focused on the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca , the Pandora Papers point to fourteen financial services companies and count more than 29,000 companies with tax advantages.

How to better regulate the practice?

According to Gabriel Zucman, professor at the University of Berkeley"it seems clear that empty shells, companies without a real substance beyond that of escaping taxes and laws, should be prohibited"

"It should be clear: we cannot do business with these types of companies, we cannot, financially, exchange anything with these companies," Lucas Chancel, a professor at the Paris School of Economics , told AFP .

In recent years, progress has been made in some territories, which have agreed to exchange banking information and submit to international regulations.

Worse "specialized services located in tax havens that follow regulations, such as the Cayman Islands and Jersey, have opened entities in other less regulated territories," Ronen Palan warned.

For the economist, the accent should be placed on intermediaries, through the creation of a code of conduct that gives them more responsibilities.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/understanding-offshore-accounts

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Time for Panama to stop playing the victim

Posted 05/10/2021

The investigation that has just begun to be revealed in the Pandora Papers journalistic project is not a sign of a conspiracy against the country, but rather shows the consequences of turning a blind eye for so many years, to the need for required changes in our institutions.

 It will not be easy to get out of the hole that we have dug ourselves by maintaining persistent weaknesses in our legal systems, such as the lack of controls and the prevailing impunity, resulting from the lack of will to enforce laws that are already in place. The arguments about the desire to destroy the reputations of Panamanians or that of the country are a small-town manifestation, especially considering the direct criticisms that these publications make about regulations in the United States. The underlying problem is that although there are tax havens in the developed world, there are proven punishments against those who break the laws.

In the meantime, In Panama, the laws look like an ornament. Let's couple this with the change in attitudes and principles that an exclusive club now considers have to be adopted to participate in the global concert. It is time to abandon the role of victim. The lamentations will not remove Panama from black or gray lists. Actions will be required. LA PRENSA, Oct. 5.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/time-for-panama-to-stop-playing-the-victim

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Panama’s Pandora Bunker

The Public Registry

Posted 05/10/2021

In the world we live in, what is legal is not always moral, and what is moral is not always legal. The revelations that are just beginning to be known of the 11.9 million documents analyzed by hundreds of journalists from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ ) once again confront international public opinion with the reality of tax double standards of today's society.

As the revelations progress, each citizen must understand what the elements of judgment are to weigh the journalistic discoveries. Here I am going to point out the most obvious and some legal technicalities that - albeit annoying - are key to unraveling Panama's role in all of this.

The power of information
ICIJ journalists do not steal information, they do not hack computer systems, much less pay for the information. The ICIJ does not keep them veiled from Panama and these revelations are not campaigns by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development or by George Soros, much less by Movin. This information is the result of years of work and analysis.

Having corporations, trusts, private interest foundations, insurance and reinsurance companies, (as in the case of Bermuda) is not a crime. To the annoyance of the ordinary citizen, wealthy people and companies of a certain size use all these legal structures with one purpose: to optimize money and asset management.

Limited liability companies in all their varieties, including public limited companies, have allowed the development of modern capitalism, since they limit the risk that investors or owners of that company lose their personal or family assets because the said company limits up to where they can be responsible, that is, to the maximum of the capital of the company.

Corporations and their other relatives also serve a laudable purpose, that of protecting the assets of people in delicate situations, such as an opposition businessman in Nicaragua or Venezuela. The obverse of this coin is that corporations can also be used to hide assets from the treasury, business partners, an ex-wife, or, worse still, to launder bribes, channel bribes or hide ill-gotten assets.

Changing obligations of Panama lawyers
Law 32 of 1927 established the public limited company regime in Panama. Throughout the 20th century, the business grew slowly until the International Banking Center appeared and this allowed combining encrypted bank accounts with public limited companies that had bearer shares. At that time, in the crazy 1970s, resident agents, that is, lawyers or law firms that constituted the corporation and maintained its registry operation had no greater responsibility for what was done or happened with the corporation. anonymous society.

These Panamanian legal entities were so attractive that large financial intermediaries, the United States and Western Europe, bought them in volume to offer them to their clients. In this way, the Panamanian lawyer had no idea who was the final beneficiary of the company, if he was in Alaska, Antofagasta, Australia, or in the house next door.

The sad truth is that very early in its republican history, Panama decided that its tax system was territorial in nature, that is, only the rents or income generated by economic activities within Panamanian territory are subject to the payment of taxes.

With the proliferation of free zones and special tax regimes, this ended up being a half-truth. In contrast, the vast majority of Western countries follow another rule, that of universality. If a citizen or permanent resident of a country with a universal tax regime generates income outside the country, they have to pay taxes. Hence the beauty of the Panamanian system: highly reserved corporations, a territorial tax regime, a flexible financial center, and authorities indifferent or too weak to pose a threat.

The path of change
In the early 1990s, the Treaty of Mutual Legal Assistance was signed between Panama and the United States This represented the first break in the strength of Panamanian corporations and encrypted accounts. Subsequently, the first substantive transformation occurred with Law 2 of 2011, which forced resident agents to carry out “due diligence” on their clients. Law 23 of 2015 dealt a very hard blow to law firms, by establishing the obligation to report the transactions of all their legal instruments (companies, trusts, and private interest foundations), in turn, the compliance officer was created to monitor that the obligations established by those laws are effectively executed.

On the other hand, Law 129 of 2020 established a system for law firms to inform the authorities for very specific purposes, the real identity of the beneficiaries of the legal entities they represent. This norm complements the largest transformation of the Panamanian tax system in the republican life of this country: Law 70 of 2019 established the tax evasion of 300 thousand dollars or more in a fiscal year as a crime part of the Penal Code and it was also considered as a crime preceding money laundering.

With these laws and dates, then it can be assessed whether the information from the ICIJ regarding Panamanian lawyers indicates the possible commission of a crime, or one more vividness of the capitalist system.

Panama has failed to fulfill some of its tasks in matters of financial transparency, documentation of the final beneficiaries and, of course, in matters of justice. This, which the international organizations and most of the developed countries reproach us, is the great cause of the disastrous lists and also of much opacity in the Panamanian economy itself and in public contracting.

Very controversial revelations are sure to come in the coming days. The great option for Panamanians is to turn a crisis into a great opportunity and decide whether it is worth all the economic and reputational damage that the country faces to continue maintaining a part of the financial legal services sector, which is becoming a permanent threat. to the rest of the financial sector and the entire national economy.

In the 1950s, General Motors Chairman Charles Wilson coined the phrase: "What's good for General Motors is good for America." There are those who think that what is good for the opacity and little transparency of corporations, private interest foundations and trusts is good for Panama. In neither case is this true. -Rodrigo Noriega, LA PRENSA

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/opinion/panamas-pandora-bunker

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“Don’t sacrifice Panama” - Transparency International in wake of Pandora Papers

Posted 07/10/2021

The Panama chapter of Transparency International has published a withering indictment of government inaction and called on  Government and the offshore services  private sector “to make the changes required by the standards of transparency and international cooperation against money laundering and not to sacrifice the rest of the country with the cost reputational, economic, legal and ethical caused by a non-viable management model ”.

The call comes after the publication of the Pandora Papers , by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ According to the TI-, the investigation has once again confronted Panama with a dilemma between the ethical and the legal, given the role it still plays in the international empowerment of organized crime, corruption and money laundering, after the Leakage of documents from 14 financial vehicle providers, including two Panamanians.

“The information disclosed in the leak shows that it is a pending task for the country -both in the public and private sectors- to stop being enablers of a parallel system that allows criminals of diverse nature to hide, move and enjoy their ill-gotten wealth. , promote fraud, international bribery, tax evasion, among others, all crimes constituting money laundering. How many local offshore service providers in the country are still enablers? ”asks TI-Panama.

According to the letter, the regulatory changes introduced since 2016, when the cases related to the Mossack Fonseca firm were published, "were not sufficient or timely." The organization recalls that since the year 2000 when the first qualification as a non-cooperative country was received, until the formalization of its permanence on the blacklist of the European Union, “the country has complied half enforced   - with the recommendations for a change of management and regulation, often without the political will to do so. 

The sector that provides offshore services has disproportionately influenced, managing to maintain the status quo, wielding -in addition- a nationalist discourse that does little to effectively address the problem, its causes, and effects ”.

The note indicates that in offshore systems “organized crime and corrupt politicians who have promised to comply with their laws hide, do not do so and demand, with sanctions included, their citizens to do so. They hide fortunes resulting from the looting of our countries - in all regions - in corrupt and corrupting schemes, which divert the resources that the populations need ”.

One of the aspects that reflects the weak implementation of laws has to do with the private and unique registry of final beneficiaries, which was approved by law in March 2020 and whose implementation is still pending. A registry of this type, especially open to the public, -something that has not been contemplated in the law- “would be a step to bring us closer, through transparency, so that legal persons engaged in legal activities can perform safely and close the siege of those that are vehicles for crime and corruption ”, TI-Panama points out.

The organization claims that the country must confront that "an opaque and laissez-faire model of generating and selling people and legal instruments from almost a century ago, without greater responsibilities, does not hold up in the digital age and proactive transparency." Added to this is the lack of institutional tools to prevent conflicts of interest in the public sector and to enforce the law, given the weakness of the regulatory, criminal justice, and control institutions.

“There is an ethical duty in not making it easier for the corrupt and criminals to have a place to hide, the arguments that others who demand it do not do so and that the country and the economic sector that provide the service are not responsible are unviable. As unviable as pretending to be an international financial center in a permanent struggle against the rest of the international financial community and international standards. The management model of both the Government and the offshore services sector must change to the viability of the new normal of corporate and economic transparency that allows Panama to act with legitimacy in the international community. Not to do so would be to continue sacrificing the rest of the country at a reputational, economic, legal and ethical cost that we are already paying in excess of, ”says TI-Panama.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/business/dont-sacrifice-panama-transparency-international-in-wake-of-pandora-papers

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Rescheduled Panama Papers hearing

Posted 22/11/2021

At the Balboa Theater, the preliminary hearing of 41 people who are allegedly linked to the commission of the crime against the economic order, in the form of money laundering was scheduled for Monday, November 22.

The hearing is presided over by the third judge Baloisa Marquínez of the Third Criminal Court for Liquidation and is held on the alternate date, as it was suspended on September 20  due to a medical incapacity presented by a defense attorney and the presentation of an excuse by another technical defender, who informed the Court that he could not attend due to legal representation commitments, in another process.

According to the Judicial Branch, on September 20, the Court appointed alternate public defenders in order to act as legal representation for the accused, in the event that private attorneys do not attend on the alternate date.

This case, which began with the publications of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), is related to the alleged concealment of illicit funds from executives of the German company Siemens.

Information in development ...

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/rescheduled-panama-papers-hearing

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Panama Papers reality show  at  Balboa Theatre

Posted 23/11/2021

The preliminary hearing of the investigation of The Panama Papers by the  Third Court of Criminal Proceedings of Panama to determine if the merits exist for a money-laundering trial will be staged in the Balboa  Theatre and will run from November 22 to December 17 with a cast of hundreds including 50  high profile defendants and their legal teams presided over by Judge Baloisa Marquínez.

The curtain when up on Monday when Marquínez, admitted nine prescriptions of the criminal action and denied seven, and the 700-page prosecutorial hearing of the investigation was read.

The  Panama Papers plot emerged in early 2016 and attracted worldwide attention with the leak of documents from the law firm Mossack Fonseca.

According to the investigation of the Public Ministry, the defendants manipulated the provision of professional services related to the creation of joint-stock companies and the administration of funds to hide the identity of the beneficiaries. The judicial investigation allegedly found false contracts and the opening of fraudulent accounts to transfer and keep illegal assets in custody.

They would have provided advice to illegally hide funds from locals and foreigners. The activity, according to the Public Ministry, was carried out with full knowledge of the illicit origin in exchange for high and extraordinary commissions. The information revealed how personalities from politics, business, sports, and the arts used offshore companies to hide profits, assets, and evade the treasury.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama-papers-reality-show-at-balboa-theatre

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Panama Papers prosecutor requests money laundering trial for 32

Posted 27/11/2021

The preliminary hearing of the Panama Papers case entered its final stretch, on Friday, November 26 when after the specialized prosecutor against Organized Crime, Isis Soto, requested the summons to the trial of 32 people for alleged money laundering.

The case is being held at the Balboa Theater because of the number of people involved.

Prosecutor Soto said that the investigation which began as a result of the publications of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), in 2016, has two aspects: one aimed at clarifying the purchase by citizens of real estate in Panama with illicit money and another related to the Mossack Fonseca firm, which would have facilitated the creation of legal structures (corporations), in order to allegedly move funds to pay bribes.

The prosecutor alleged that there is evidence of irregularities committed by members of the law firm, who used third parties to create the companies.

The affirmations of the prosecutor were objected to by several of the defense attorneys.

Samuel Quintero, a lawyer for María Luján González's alleged that his client, who was part of Mossack Fonseca, has been charged just for sending an email.

Quintero said that the Public Ministry charged Luján without detailing the specific conduct of which she is accused.

Ángel Álvarez, a lawyer for Zacgary Ludgren, alleged that his client has been charged with no evidence linking him to alleged money laundering.

Ludgren, who is also under investigation in Argentina, is linked to the Panama Papers scandal through the acquisition of a series of real estate, with supposedly illicit money.

During the hearing, the third liquidation judge Baloisa Marquínez accepted a request for a criminal statute of limitations in favor of nine people, while others in favor of seven investigated were denied.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama-papers-prosecutor-requests-money-laundering-trial-for-32

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32 facing trial in Panama Papers case

Posted 25/01/2022

The Criminal Cases Settlement Court has called 32 people to trial accused of money laundering, in the “Panama Papers” case involving the defunct law firm Mossack Fonseca, which sent shock waves around the world as world leaders, sports and entertainment personalities, and business tycoons efforts to avoid taxes were exposed.

On November 30, 2021, the Third Liquidator Court of Criminal Cases of Panama, using the facilities of the Balboa Theater, concluded the preliminary hearing that followed the 45 defendants in the 'Panama Papers' case, in charge of Judge Baloisa Marquínez, who was accepted at the end to qualify the legal merit of the summary.

At the six-day hearing, Isis Soto Espinoza, Second Specialized Prosecutor Against Organized Crime, acted on behalf of the Public Ministry.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/32-facing-trial-in-panama-papers-case

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Public Ministry to appeal Mossack Fonseca ruling

Posted 21/06/2022

The Attorney General in charge, Javier Caraballo, announced that the Public Ministry will file an appeal against the ruling that provisionally dismissed Mossack and Fonseca from the Lava Jato case.

Caraballo indicated that, as an institution, he does not agree with the ruling of the Judge Third Liquidator of Criminal Cases of the First Judicial Circuit Baloísa Marquínez, who ordered the provisional dismissal of Jürgen Mossack and Ramón Fonseca Mora and 37 people, in the investigation of the Second Prosecutor's Office against Organized Crime, for the Lava Jato case.

“After the Public Ministry collects a series of evidentiary examples that in our opinion are sufficient for a person to respond in court, these elements have to be analyzed by a judge and that is what not what has happened," said Caraballo.

He said that, as a result of the decision by the judge, who argued that the Public Ministry failed to prove a crime in this case, he will present the appeal of the decision. The judge, Baloísa Marquínez Morán, indicated in her resolution that the investigation did not show which accounts were created in Panama, in order to hide money of illicit origin, nor the amounts of the money entered from companies offshore.

The investigation did not prove that the investigated law firm managed any funds or bank accounts from Brazil. The investigation began in 2016, "the product of a news event" in the framework of the Lava operation in Brazil that linked "a law office in Panama that created legal-financial structures to hide money from illicit activities."

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/public-ministry-to-appeal-mossack-fonseca-ruling-2

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Panama Papers trial limps into court in 2024

Jürgen Mossack

Posted 18/12/2023

The Panama Papers, scheduled for December, did not take place and a court set it for the first quarter of 2024, in another setback for this long process branded by some as part of an “armed” scandal to discredit the country.

There are already several prolonged delays in the case for which lawyers Jürgen Mossack and Ramón Fonseca Mora, founders of the extinct law firm at the heart of the scandal known worldwide as the Panama Papers, will be brought to trial, accused of money laundering.

This money laundering process began with the worldwide publications of a journalistic investigation that leaked in 2016 details about financial transactions made through thousands of offshore corporations created by the Mossack Fonseca firm and linked to people in 200 countries and 21 financial jurisdictions.

 through corporate and financial schemes, “illicit assets and their real beneficiaries were hidden, promoting the laundering of billions of dollars.

44 face trial
In Panama, the investigation into the case lasted until September 2019, when in a tax hearing the MP asked the court in the case to call 44 people to trial for money laundering and to dismiss eleven others.

Although the start of the preliminary hearing was set for no later than November 2020, it was set up a year later and 32 people were called to trial for money laundering, including the two founding partners of the Mossack Fonseca firm.

Due to the management of international assistance, the start of the trial scheduled for December 2021 at the latest was postponed to the beginning of this month, but it was not carried out either “due to notifications that have to be made through international assistance,” as reported. the Judicial Branch (OJ).

Thus, the court established the new main hearing date, from February 19 to March 8, 2024, and the alternate date from April 8 to April 26, 2024.

The leak of the Panama Papers filled 2.6 terabytes and more than 11.5 million documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, affecting more than 140 politicians and senior officials around the world and exceeding the 1.7 million files that technology consultant and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee Edward Snowden leaked in 2013.

In subsequent years after the scandal, Panama was included in the gray lists of France, the EU and also, for the second time, in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), from which it was excluded last October.

The Government of Cortizo, which took office for the 2019-2024 five-year period, has highlighted “the effort” it has made to comply with international standards in tax matters, and at the time, asked the EU for “equal treatment”, as occurs in Panama to European companies.

“Europe, especially France, using its force seeks to subdue, control, impose its interests on the rest of the world,” Adolfo Linares, a Panamanian lawyer with more than 30 years experience in commercial, maritime, copyright law, told EFE.

Linares regretted that a few years ago “it seems that our political class has decided to simply lower its head,” a situation whose result has been that the country has “been changing laws and codes for more than 10 years, under the pretext of complying, and each time "When we do something, they raise the bar for us, and that will continue like this."

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama-papers-trial-limps-into-court-in-2024-2

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Panama Papers Trial Starts Monday

Posted 07/04/2024

On the day of the Eclipse, Monday April 8th, there is another eclipse going on.  This one is a different definition for the word eclipse.  Eclipse:  Losing or having lost significance, power or prominence.  Yes, we are talking about the Panama Papers!!  You thought that was all over, correct?  Maybe you thought that it had just lost its significance, power or prominence.  Not a chance.  It is still very much around us here in Panama. The Second Liquidation Court of Criminal Cases, headed by Baloisa Marquínez, is scheduled to hold the trial of the so-called 'Panama Papers' case. It begins at 9am in the courtroom of the Gil Ponce Palace of Justice.

Let me take you back to 2016.  I was working with the Overseas Radio Network at the time broadcasting news stories in Panama, around the world over the internet on Skype, also available on iTunes.  I received the news that a journalistic investigation published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), was about to hit the airwaves.  It involved the operations of the Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca who created companies that were used for various business practices: There was alleged corruption, possible money laundering, and the list went on and on, with some very famous and rich persons involved.

The documents obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared with the ICIJ came from Mossack Fonseca branches in Hong Kong, Miami, Zurich, the British Virgin Islands and more than thirty other countries. The information contained data on 214,488 offshore entities linked to people in more than 200 countries, as well as the 21 financial jurisdictions where the Panamanian law firm had a presence.  The files linked the Panamanian firm with companies or people linked to the African diamond trade and the clandestine international art market, to mention a few.  Among the firm's clients were, for example, the then Prime Minister of Iceland, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, some of the protagonists of the most important gold robbery in England, and several of the actors in the FIFA scandal, as well as Lionel Messi, considered the best footballer in the world as you see his sweater and number everywhere.

In those days, the company Mossack Fonseca was mentioned in Brazil in the investigation into the payment of bribes and money laundering in Operation Lava Jato, an investigation that reached Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.  In Panama, the investigation consists of 528 volumes and involves former directors of the law firm.  Through Order Vario 137 of July 21, 2023, Judge Marquínez accumulated the Panama Papers and Lava Jato files into a single case, since they had similarities in the people accused and in the activities investigated by the Public Ministry. Among those charged are former Mossack Fonseca executives Jurgen Mossak, Ramón Fonseca Mora, lawyer Ramsés Owen, Edison Teano, María Mercedes Riaño, Sandra Alejandrina Naranjo, Luis Adonay Martínez, George Allen, Leticia Montoya, Rey Franklin Taylor, and others.

You have probably seen the 2019 comedy/drama movie that came to Netflix called “The Laundromat” with Meryl Streep, Antonio Banderas, and Gary Oldman.  It was a terrible movie, but you might want to check it out again as it is coming back into Panama news once again.  Here is the official trailer.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuBRcfe4bSoThe investigation has two aspects: one aimed at clarifying the purchase of real estate in Panama with alleged illicit money and another related to the Mossack Fonseca firm, which would have facilitated the creation of public limited companies, supposedly to move funds for the payment of bribes.  The preliminary hearing of the case took place in November 2021.  On March 14, 2018, the Mossack Fonseca firm announced the closure of its offices in Panama, as well as in 40 other countries.  They attributed the closure to ICIJ publications.  The firm defended itself with the following argument: “Mossack & Fonseca was the victim of a global cyber attack. The ICIJ presented to the world, based on stolen information, an inaccurate picture of the services we provided, distorting the nature of the industry and its role in global financial markets, releasing a series of publications full of speculation and data out of context that “They managed to fulfill a media agenda orchestrated by some international organizations.”

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama-papers-trial-starts-monday

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The Panama Papers Trial on now

Posted 09/04/2024

You may remember back to June of 2022 when a Panamanian judge, Baloisa Marquínez Moran, acquitted thirty-nine people in a money laundering case.  She’s back again as the Panama Papers is in the courts today.   Among those acquitted in 2022 were lawyers Jurgen Mossack and Ramon Fonseca, who were key figures in the Panama Papers case.  Both Mossack and Fonseca have Panamanian citizenship.  Mossack and Fonseca, faced charges of money laundering and creating offshore accounts that were used by the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht to move bribes.  Judge Baloisa Marquínez Moran ruled that the prosecution did not prove that the law firm Mossack Fonseca handled illicit funds from Brazil, or try to hide them.

Fonseca has claimed they were the victims of “scapegoating” to hide who accepted bribes from Odebrecht.  The Panama Papers included a collection of eleven million secret financial documents that illustrated how some of the world’s richest people hide their money. The records were leaked in 2016, and the repercussions were far-ranging. This leak prompted the resignation of the Prime Minister of Iceland and brought scrutiny to leaders of Argentina, Ukraine, China and Russian President Vladimir Putin.  US federal prosecutors have alleged that the Mossack Fonseca firm conspired to circumvent American laws to maintain the wealth of its clients.  They allegedly also concealed tax dollars that they owed to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  Fonseca said that the firm, which closed in 2018, had no control over how its clients used offshore vehicles created for them.

Here is some of the action as court came to order on Monday April 8th 2024.  Baloisa Marquínez, second liquidating judge of criminal cases, entered the room at 9:40 am. She informed each of the defendants that, by means of mixed order 2 of January 19, 2022, corrected with order 144 of August 2 of 2023, the court opened a criminal case against them (calling them to trial) considering them alleged violators of the provisions contained in chapter IV, title seven of the second book of the Penal Code, for the alleged crime of money laundering.  All responded that they were not responsible for the crime. They all pleaded not guilty.  The first to speak was Jürgen Mossack, pictured below entering the court, one of the founders of the defunct law firm Mossack & Fonseca.  His colleague and partner Ramón Fonseca Mora did not attend the event.  His lawyer, Dayka Indira Levy, stated that he is hospitalized at the Medica Norte Hospital in Santiago, Veraguas.  The medical certificate, she said, is from April 7.  When he arrived at the Gil Ponce Palace, where the trial is being held, Mossack said he felt “very optimistic.” “If there is real justice, we will get out of this,” he added. The Mossack and Fonseca law firm closed in March of 2018.  During the first day of the trial, the defunct firm, Financial Pacific got a mention, as did Odebrecht, Fifa Gate, Casa Grande Development SA, and Panama’s infamous ‘black box’ of 1976.  The trial continues………

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/the-panama-papers-trial-on-now

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Panama Papers Trial Enters Final Phase Tuesday

Posted 15/04/2024

The case of the Panama Papers trial enters its final phase Tuesday April 16, with the closing evidence by the prosecution and defense lawyers. The next phase is the pleadings. 32 experts and witnesses were called to trial during the first week.  The specialized prosecutor against Organized Crime, Isis Soto, estimated that she needs 10 hours to present her allegations and maintains that she has shown sufficient evidence to support that the 29 defendants committed the crime of money laundering through a network of offshore companies created by the defunct forensic firm Mossack Fonseca.  The round of allegations will be opened by prosecutor Soto; then the lawyers of the accused follow.  The second liquidating judge of criminal cases, Baloisa Marquínez, announced the order in which the defenders will present their arguments.

On Monday, April 15, the sixth day of the trial began with the statement of the forensic expert Luis Enrique Rivera Calle, in charge of downloading the digital information contained in the Mossack Fonseca servers.  Rivera Calle reported that he carried out the download of the information with the collaboration of officials from the Public Ministry, given that there were several servers that contained a large amount of data, which is why the procedure lasted several days.  Rivera Calle recalled that the raid on Mossack Fonseca servers was ordered by the then prosecutor against organized crime Javier Caraballo (now Attorney General of the Nation), and had the collaboration of officials from the Public Ministry.

The expert, questioned by prosecutor Marcos Mosquera, assured that during the procedure the chain of custody was complied with for the preservation of the computer data obtained during the raid. However, the defense attorneys severely questioned him, questioning him about his ability and preparation to carry out the download of the information from the servers.  Diego González, who acts - along with Guillermina McDonald - as Jurgen Mossack's lawyer, questioned the expert about whether the rest of the Public Ministry officials who participated in the review of Mossack Fonseca's servers were computer experts, to which he responded - No.

González also asked Rivera Calle if the compact discs used to download the digital information were kept in compliance with the chain of custody, to which he responded yes.  In the afternoon, Zuleyka Miter, wife of the accused Zacgary Lundgren, appeared as a witness, who is accused of having handled and received funds from Argentina, used for the purchase of several apartments in Panama City.  Miter assured that her husband is innocent of the charges against him and that the transactions carried out were legitimate.  Then, expert Miguel A. Martínez took the stand, and carried out an analysis of the Mossack Fonseca servers and determined that there were no alterations in the data contained in those computers.  Fifteen witnesses requested by defense attorneys did not appear at the hearing.  Jurgen Mossack, pictured below, arrives at the court house.   

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama-papers-trial-enters-final-phase-tuesday

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Panama Papers Trial Continues

Posted 18/04/2024

The Panamanian prosecutor’s office asked on Wednesday for 12 years in prison, the maximum penalty for money laundering, for Jürgen Mossack and Ramón Fonseca, founders of the now-defunct law firm at the epicenter of the international “Panama Papers” scandal. Prosecutor Isis Soto asked the court for a “maximum” sentence against the heads of the Mossack Fonseca law firm as perpetrators of the crime of money laundering, during the eighth day of the trial taking place for the “Panama Papers”.  Mossack and Fonseca are also accused of “concealing, covering up and providing false information to banking entities for the opening of accounts and concealing the ownership of assets”, said the prosecutor.  “Messrs. Jürgen Mossack and Ramón Fonseca received and transferred funds from illicit activities that occurred in Germany and Argentina,” added Soto.

The prosecutor also asked to convict 24 other defendants, mainly former employees of the firm, and requested the acquittal of three accused. Previously, the judiciary reported 27 defendants in this money laundering case.  “We have requested the conviction in accordance with the criminal quality or participation of each one as perpetrators, as primary accomplices and as secondary accomplices,” said the prosecutor.  Due to the scandal, the Mossack Fonseca law firm had to close, while Panama’s international image, accused of being a tax haven, was seriously affected.  According to the prosecution, Mossack, 76, and Fonseca, 71, are responsible for facilitating through the firm the creation of opaque companies in which executives of the German multinational Siemens deposited millions of euros outside the company’s real accounting.  This “slush fund” would have been used to hide money from the payment of commissions.

The Panamanian firm, according to the prosecution, was also used to store money from a massive scam in Argentina.  The trial began eight years after the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published the “Panama Papers” on April 3, 2016.  This investigation, based on the leak of 11.5 million documents from the Mossack Fonseca firm, showed how heads of state and government, political leaders, personalities from finance, sports and the arts hid properties, companies, assets and profits to evade taxes or launder money.  To do this, they created opaque companies, through the Panamanian firm, in order to open bank accounts and create front foundations with the aim of hiding money, in some cases from illicit activities, according to the investigation.  Russian President Vladimir Putin and former leaders of Iceland, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson; Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif; Britain, David Cameron; and Argentina, Mauricio Macri; as well as Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi were some of the names mentioned then. 

“I am not responsible” for these crimes, Mossack declared before Judge Baloísa Marquínez at the beginning of the trial on April 8.  “The truth is that after more than 500 volumes of files we find that we only have the Siemens case in Germany and a case in Argentina, out of the thousands and thousands of people who were supposedly involved,” said lawyer Daika Indira Levy, Fonseca’s defender, on the second day of the trial.  After the “Panama Papers”, the Central American country made some legal reforms, which allowed it to leave the “gray list” of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in 2023. However, Panama remains on the list of territories considered “tax havens” by the European Union.  The trial was supposed to be held in 2021 but was delayed for various reasons.

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama-papers-trial-continues