Panama Papers Trial Starts Monday

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.”