US opens criminal investigation into Panama Papers
THE UNITED STATES Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into the revelations of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) related to the files of Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca.
While Panama’s administration, with former close ties to the central figures in the scandal, seems transfixed by the revelations which have exposed political, business, sports and entertainment figures around the world, the US is acting.
Panama’s President and Vice-President are out of the country.
Manhattan-based prosecutor Preet Bharara has confirmed the action via an e-mail to the ICIJ Bharara requested an appointment “as soon as possible” with the ICIJ to learn more about the 11.5 million documents that were leaked from Mossack Fonseca and obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.
According to Britain’s Guardian newspaper Bharara is already investigating more than 200 U.S. citizens mentioned in the documents.
Several other countries have announced investigations into the activities described in the publications of the ICIJ, such as Costa Rica, El Salvador, Peru, Spain, France and United Kingdom, among others. In Panama, the second special prosecutor against organized crime carried out a raid on the Mossack Fonseca head office, 10 days after the “Panama Paper” revelations were released. The raid lasted 27 hours.
The United States Department of Justice has initiated a criminal investigation into the facts described in the publications of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) related to the files of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.
Manhattan-based prosecutor Preet Bharara confirmed the information via an e-mail to the ICIJ, according to the British newspaper The Guardian.
Bharara requested an appointment “as soon as possible” with the ICIJ to learn more about the 11.5 million documents that were leaked from Mossack Fonseca and obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.
According to The Guardian, Bharara is already investigating more than 200 U.S. citizens mentioned in the documents.
Several other countries have announced investigations into the activities described in the publications of the ICIJ, such as Costa Rica, El Salvador, Peru, Spain, France and United Kingdom, among others. In Panama, the second special prosecutor against organized crime last week carried out a raid of Mossack Fonseca offices that lasted 27 hours.
