PANAMA PAPERS: Law group backs investigators

THE LAW FIRM Mossack Fonseca, at the epicenter of the Panama Papers storm, got little sympathy from the Panamanian Association of Constitutional law (Apadec) for its attempt to divert attention from possible malpractices to the way the information was acquired.

In a statement Friday April 15    Apadec said: to discredit the work of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists ( ICIJ) on the “pretext that the information they obtained comes from a hacker and/or someone who stole it illegally from the firm” is irrelevant for criminal purposes, since one of the objectives of the Public Ministry, stated in the Criminal Procedure Code, “is to get to the truth of the facts” and prosecute crimes of which they  have news “by any means”. That should be made available to any State that requires it, to determine its responsibility in any of the possible unlawful acts referred to in the investigations of the ICIJ, including “, the State of Brazil, investigating the  firm Mossack Fonseca, allegedly for being involved in a phase of the operation known as Lava Jato,” the union said in a statement signed by  its president Miguel Antonio Bernal.

The association points out that although Panama is not a tax haven and offshore companies are not illegal, the law firms involved in its creation and sale are required to report any illegal element of its customers and to deepen the knowledge of the origin of the resources and activities.

On the  ICIJ investigation, the information would have revealed “that this firm established offshore companies with complex structures, some of them allegedly to create a framework that would prevent the trail of the authorities.”

“Some of them were used to hide properties businesses, assets, profits from illegal activities, to hide money due  to the treasury or public authorities from different countries, under the laws of where your customers are, resulting in tax evasion heads State and government leaders of world politics, PEPs and personalities of finance, business, sports and art “

In the statement, the association calls attention to the fact that in front of these companies appear alleged “front men” and, in the worst case, “used their own employees, who are humble Panamanians, probably they never perceived a penny of these activities and neither were aware of the details of the activities of each of these companies. “

The Apadec considered that to discredit the work of the ICIJ on the “pretext that the information they obtained comes from a hacker and/or someone who stole it illegally from the  firm” is irrelevant for criminal purposes, since one of the objectives of the Public Ministry, stated in the Criminal Procedure Code, “is to get to the truth of the facts” and prosecute crimes of which have news “by any means”.

The union calls for promoting the revision of the laws on tax, financial, offshore companies and capital and assets laundering matters and prevention of the laundering of drug money, “which is compromised not only Panama, but the United States of America and England, where there are tax havens”.
The statement was signed by Miguel Antonio Bernal.