Arrest Warrants Issued for Founders of Panama Papers Firm
German authorities have issued international arrest warrants for that two founders from the firm at the centre of the tax scandal revealed in the 2021 Panama Papers data leak, based on German media.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung reported late on Monday that the public prosecutor's office in Cologne had issued warrants for Jürgen Mossack and his former partner Ramón Fonseca , co-founders of Mossack Fonseca. The 2 men, aged 72 and 68 respectively, are accused of aiding tax evasion and associating with criminals.
Both Mossack and Fonseca are presently living in Panama, which doesn't extradite passport-holding citizens. However, they will be arrested if they enter the Eu. The FBI are also reportedly investigating the pair.
The firm Mossack Fonseca, established in the 1980s, was closed in 2021 following the leak of over 11 million documents – thereafter known as the Panama Papers – to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, which caused around 400 journalists from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists to analyse the data before publishing their findings in April 2021.
Mosssack Fonseca was discovered to possess facilitated elaborate networks of cash laundering and tax evasion, enabling criminals to make use of shell companies to hide their assets. The scandal implicated hundreds of wealthy individuals and government officials across the world, revealing that they hidden money offshore.
Iceland's then-prime minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson was instructed to resign after being implicated in the papers, as was Nawaz Sharif, the previous prime minister of Pakistan. A minimum of 150 investigations happen to be opened in 79 countries to look at possible money laundering or tax evasion stemming from the papers' revelations, according to the American Center for Public Integrity.
Though there is certainly no pathway for Mossack and Fonseca to become extradited, investigators hope that Mossack, who is German-born and it has family in the country, may surrender to officials on the chance of a lower sentence and escape from US charges.
