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.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Eel-egal trade: the world’s most lucrative wildlife crime?Under the Radar Trafficking of juvenile ‘glass’ eels from Europe to Asia generates up to €3bn a year but the species is on the brink of extinction
-
Political cartoons for November 2Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include the 22nd amendment, homeless camps, and more
-
The dazzling coral gardens of Raja AmpatThe Week Recommends Region of Indonesia is home to perhaps the planet’s most photogenic archipelago.
-
ABC News to pay $15M in Trump defamation suitSpeed Read The lawsuit stemmed from George Stephanopoulos' on-air assertion that Trump was found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll
-
Judge blocks Louisiana 10 Commandments lawSpeed Read U.S. District Judge John deGravelles ruled that a law ordering schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms was unconstitutional
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security lawSpeed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitutionspeed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidenceSpeed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulationsSpeed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
-
Greece legalizes same-sex marriageSpeed Read Greece becomes the first Orthodox Christian country to enshrine marriage equality in law
