A Panama court has acquitted all those accused of money laundering in the so-called Panama Papers, a leak of documents from the Mossack Fonseca company that exposed connections between world leaders and offshore companies. The case involved 28 individuals, including Jurgen Mossack, one of the company’s founders. The case against the second co-founder, Ramon Fonseca, who passed away a month ago, was also dropped. The prosecutor had sought 12 years in prison for them on charges of helping clients launder money and evade taxes.
The Panama Papers, based on an analysis of internal Mossack Fonseca documents, were published in 2016. The documents revealed that the company had assisted powerful individuals in making tens of millions of dollars through offshore companies. The case materials mentioned associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin, former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The documents also included names like footballer Lionel Messi and director Pedro Almodóvar.
Russian cellist Sergei Roldugin, a friend of Putin, came into the spotlight in connection with this case as well. He was found to own several offshore companies worth billions of dollars.
The acquitted individuals in the Panama Papers case were involved in various industries, including the manufacture and supply of pipes, flanges, pipe fittings, sheets, plates, fasteners, tubes, and other steel products. The companies mentioned in the case were operating in Dubai and the UAE, dealing with materials like Inconel, Carbon Steel, Titanium, and Stainless Steel. The individuals acquitted were associated with a wide range of products and services related to the steel industry.