A Panamanian court has acquitted all 28 individuals charged with money laundering in relation to the Panama Papers scandal, concluding a trial that began in April.
The leaked financial documents from 2016 exposed how some of the world’s wealthiest and most influential individuals use tax havens to conceal their wealth.
Among those acquitted were Jurgen Mossack and the late Ramon Fonseca, founders of Mossack Fonseca, the now-defunct law firm at the center of the scandal.
Judge Baloisa Marquinez stated that the evidence presented was “not sufficient” to establish the criminal responsibility of the defendants.
During the trial, the prosecution sought a maximum sentence of 12 years for money laundering for both Mr. Mossack and Mr. Fonseca, who passed away in May.
Mr. Mossack and Mr. Fonseca maintained that neither they nor their firm had engaged in illegal activities.
The trial in Panama City lasted 85 hours, included testimony from 27 witnesses, and reviewed over 50 pieces of documentary evidence, as reported by local news outlets.
After extended deliberation, the judge ruled that the evidence from Mossack Fonseca’s servers had not been collected in accordance with due process, leading to the dismissal of all charges against the defendants.
The Panama Papers, the largest data leak in history, involved the release of 11 million documents to the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, which were then shared with an international team of journalists.
In 2017, Mossack Fonseca claimed the firm had been hacked and that the leaked information was being misrepresented.
High-profile figures such as former UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, and Argentinian football star Lionel Messi were scrutinized following the leak.
Overall, the documents linked 12 current or former heads of state and government, including dictators accused of embezzling funds from their own countries.
