World
Panama’s police led by organized crime prosecutor on Tuesday raided the office of law firm Mossack Fonseca in order to find evidence of money laundering and other illegal financial activities by the company. The search came after a trove of documents, leaked from the firm, revealed how wealthy people use offshore companies in tax havens to stash their money and evade tax.
A statement issued by Panama’s attorney general office said that the objective of the raid was to secure documents related to the information published in news articles “alleging the use of the firm in illicit activities”. Similar operations are likely to be carried out at subsidiaries of the firm, added the statement. The firm denied any wrongdoing on its part stating that the only crime, in this case, has been the “the computer hack itself.”
Reuters writes:
The leaked 11.5 million documents, being referred to as “Panama Papers, have prompted governments across the world to probe possible financial wrongdoing by “the rich and powerful”,
Meanwhile, Mossack Fonseca partner Ramon Fonseca said that the law firm was a victim of hacking that was executed from overseas servers and registered a complaint with the Panamanian attorney general's office in this regard.
