Mossack and Fonseca plead not guilty in the “Lava Jato” money laundering trial in Panama

Jürgen Mossack and Ramón Fonseca, founding partners of the missing law firm epicenter of the Panama Papers scandal, pleaded not guilty this Monday to the crime of money laundering at the beginning of the trial for the “Lava Jato” case, for which they face a sentence of at least 5 years in prison.

Both are part of the 32 accused for alleged money laundering, which according to article 254 of the Penal Code of Panama is punishable by between 5 and 12 years in prison, plus aggravating factors.

The investigation into this case began in 2016.for news events related to the ‘Lava Jato’ operation in Brazil, which allegedly linked a law office in Panama dedicated to the creation of corporations”, as the Judicial Branch recalled.

The Prosecutor’s Office against Organized Crime maintains that the firm Mossack Fonseca allegedly “provided legal-financial structures to hide money from illegal activities” linked to “Lava Jato” in Brazil.

“No madam judge, innocent”, Mossack responded, in the courtroom of the Second Criminal Case Liquidator Court in Panama City, when Judge Baloísa Marquínez asked him about the charges against him.

Fonseca, who participated virtually in the hearing, said before the same question that “of course not” is guilty, and added that, in addition, he considered a “ridiculous decision” that he has been called to trial on an appeal after Judge Marquínez herself dismissed all the defendants in this case.

“We have a letter from the judge of the ‘Lava Jato’ in Brazil that says that we were not even named in that trial”, Fonseca told EFE.

The dismissal and its modification

In June 2022, Marquínez, then as head of the Third Settlement Court, issued the “provisional dismissal in favor of 39 people, and a definitive dismissal for another” for the “Lava Jato” case.

He argued, among others, that the investigation “It did not show which accounts were created in Panama with the purpose of hiding money of illicit origin, nor the amounts of money entered from offshore companies.” or extraterritorial.

But last October, a higher court modified the dismissal ruling and opened criminal proceedings against 32 people in response to an appeal by the Public Ministry (MP, Prosecutor’s Office).

“There is no prior offense or otherwise. All this started at one point for reasons that are not legal and that is going to be demonstrated. It is thought that the reasons are of a political nature, that they do not have to do with me but with others involved.”, Mossack told reporters on Monday.

All the defendants in this case pleaded not guilty and their defenders appealed to the arguments of the judicial resolution that in the first instance ordered the dismissal.

Prosecutor announces witnesses and collaboration agreements

The Second Superior Prosecutor against Organized Crime, Isis Soto, assured upon her arrival at the judicial headquarters that the Public Ministry (MP, Prosecutor’s Office) has the elements to prove the crime of money laundering.

“We have the number of elements of conviction that were collected in international judicial assistance by the Federative Republic of Brazil, witnesses, collaboration agreements, bank documentation, which we will be able to pour into this hearing”, said prosecutor Soto.

He added that in this trial they are going to highlight “The elements“that the judge”did not value” during the preliminary hearing and in which Marquínez issued the dismissal.

Soto pointed out that 7 of the 15 witnesses that will appear during the trial, which is scheduled until July 7, are provided by the Prosecutor’s Office.

The investigation of the “Lava Jato” case in Panama consists of 299 volumes. The trial is broadcast live by the Judicial Branch of Panama through its social networks.

Source: EFE