2023-06-30 02:41:00
The Public Ministry of Panama requested, this Thursday (29), up to 12 years in prison for the founders of the law firm Mossack Fonseca, protagonist of the international scandal “Panama Papers”, for assisting in money laundering through offshore companies related to Operation Car wash.
“The Public Prosecutor’s Office requests a conviction for Mr. Jrgen Mossack and Ramn Fonseca,” asked prosecutor Isis Soto, during the trial taking place in Panama City against the founders of the law firm.
Soto requested the penalty for money laundering, which establishes from five to 12 years in prison, according to Panamanian law.
In addition to Jrgen Mossack and Ramn Fonseca, another 30 people respond in this case.
The MP accuses the office, which closed its doors in 2018, of being a “criminal organization” dedicated to hiding assets linked to the Lava Jato process.
The case revealed a bribe payment scheme by Brazilian contractors, including Odebrecht, to authorities in several Latin American countries to obtain public works contracts between 2005 and 2014.
Jrgen Mossack and Ramn Fonseca “provided their collaboration knowing that there were indications and elements of the participation of these people [os acusados no Brasil] in illicit activities,” said Soto.
According to the prosecutor, the accused “allowed, through this whole scheme that they control, […] the concealment of ownership of goods that were illegally obtained,” he added.
On the first day of the hearing, both Jrgen Mossack and Ramn Fonseca, as well as the other accused, pleaded not guilty. The accusation is “ridiculous”, stated Ramn Fonseca.
In 2017, the two were preventively arrested for this case, which is independent of the “Panama Papers”, a leak of documents in 2016 that revealed the creation of numerous offshore companies by this law firm for personalities from around the world.
Some of these companies would have been used for tax evasion and money laundering.
Since 2019, Panama has punished tax evasion in excess of 300,000 dollars (R$ 1.45 million) per year with imprisonment. Before that, this crime was considered only an administrative offense.
“It was possible to prove that, effectively, for the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the determination of the origin and destination of illicitly obtained goods was covered up and prevented” in Brazil, stated Soto.
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