Late Tuesday, Panama's attorney general and national police raided the Panama City headquarters of Mossack Fonseca, the law firm whose documents were leaked, exposing the use of offshore tax vehicles by the wealthy to shield their money from tax authorities and public scrutiny. The national police said they were looking for documents that "would establish the possible use of the firm for illicit activities," such as tax evasion or fraud, and in a statement after the raid, the attorney general's office said the operation had been carried out "without incidence or interference."
The prosecutor leading the raid, Javier Caravallo, specializes in organized crime and money laundering. Mossack Fonseca partner Ramon Fonseca has said his firm was hacked, and maintains that it has done nothing illegal. Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela has pledged to work with other countries to improve financial transparency. Fonseca was a minister in Varela's government until earlier this year, when he stepped down amid accusations that Mossack Fonseca played a role in the Petrobras corruption scandal in Brazil.
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