Panama slips into Mossack Fonseca cruise control

WITH BOTH Panama’s President and Vice President  out of the country on foreign missions,  the government appears to have dampened  down  speculation on  the fall out from the Mossack Fonseca scandal after the  highly publicized, but much delayed  raid on the offices of the Panama law firm.

But other jurisdictions appear not to have put their investigations in low level cruise control.

Ricardo Perdomo, Superintendent of El Salvador’s Financial Systems  said on television on Monday, April 18, that  the country  has asked  the Panamanian authorities to investigate the cases of its nationals, whose names have appeared in  Mossack Fonseca  files, allegedly involved in nefarious transactions and has asked  Panama to  investigate bank transfers  for the last 10 years.

He reportedly joins some 30 other jurisdictions  asking for help, while in Panama the debate continues over whether the current administration is moving at the speed of  a grounded turtle or a tortoise. Brazil, which has been asking for help in the Odebrecht scandal  for over a year, might add the sloth to the philosophical wonderings.

The Salvadorean digital newspaper El Faro has reported  that there are 33 Salvadorans related to the Panamanian law firm . Meanwhile, in Peru, which is struggling with its  major  earthquake disaster, a multidisciplinary  task force had been set  up with representatives of the prosecution team, the Superintendency of Customs and Tax Administration, the Financial Intelligence Unit and the National Police.

In the BVI  (British Virgin Islands) the  Financial Services Commission have appointed an auditor for the Mossack Fonseca affair  according to  an industry source.