The Panamanian judiciary said in a statement on Friday that Judge Baluaiza Marquinez acquitted the defendants of committing a crime against the economic system in the form of money laundering linked to the now-defunct law firm Mossack Fonseca.
The judge decided that the evidence collected on Mossack Fonseca’s servers “did not comply with the chain of custody, as well as the principles governing digital evidence, primarily due to the lack of ‘hash’ values.” [algoritmo matemático para transformar blocos de dados] It would allow us to verify its authenticity and integrity.”
Furthermore, Marquinez concluded that “the remaining evidence was insufficient and conclusive to determine the criminal responsibility of the accused.”
The judge also ordered the end of criminal proceedings in the case of one of the defendants, Ramon Fonseca Mora, director and co-founder of Mossack Fonseca.
The lawyer died on May 9 at the age of 71, as a result of pneumonia, his family members told Efe News Agency.
Marquinez ordered the lifting of precautionary measures against all defendants, including German lawyer Jürgen Mossack, the firm’s co-founder with Fonseca Moura. Mossack was acquitted of all charges.
In the Lava Jato case, the judge noted that “the entry of funds from illicit sources, originating in Brazil, into the Panamanian financial system cannot be determined for the purpose of concealing, covering, camouflaging or helping to escape the resulting legal consequences.” Previous crime.
The Lava Jato international bribery scandal, centered on the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, was tried in Panama alongside the Panama Papers case, due to the closeness of the defendants and the facts investigated.
The Public Prosecution had requested the maximum penalty, 12 years in prison, for Mossack and Fonseca.
In 2016, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists released a compromising list of individuals involved in a vast tax evasion scheme, following the leak of 11.5 million documents from Mossack Fonseca.
The case whose list included, among others, Russian President Vladimir Putin, the former heads of the government of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif and the United Kingdom David Cameron (the current leader of British diplomacy), and the footballer Lionel Messi.
The scandal showed how these figures created opaque companies, through Mossack Fonseca, to open bank accounts and create shell companies in several countries, in order to hide the money, which in some cases came from illegal activities.
