The German judicial authorities have issued an international arrest warrant against the two founders of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, at the heart of the so-called "Panama Papers" tax evasion scandal revealed in 2016 by an international consortium of investigative journalists, the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) reported on Tuesday (October 20).

The two lawyers Jürgen Mossack and Ramon Fonseca, suspected of massive assistance in tax evasion and criminal association, are now liable to be arrested if they attempt to enter the territory of the European Union, a wrote the newspaper late Monday, at the forefront of the "Panama Papers" dossier, and which has joined forces for this article with regional public audiovisual groups NDR and WDR.

Jürgen Mossack and Ramon Fonseca, both Panamanian passport holders, are currently in Panama, a country that does not extradite its nationals, notes the SZ.

Investigators, however, hope that Jürgen Mossack, who has family in Germany, will deliver himself to negotiate a reduced sentence and escape parallel prosecution in the United States.

On Twitter, Ramon Fonseca indirectly alluded to this case: "Regarding Germany, we sold companies to a German bank, which sold them to entrepreneurs, who used them for tax matters in which we did not. had nothing to do with it. "

He also blamed "the international left-wing mafia" for the charges against him and questioned if "Germany has the right to speak of justice when the Nuremberg courts convicted and executed only 14 Nazis" despite the millions of deaths in World War II.

A sprawling investigation

The "Panama Papers" scandal erupted on April 3, 2016 with the leak of 11.5 million digital archives from the Mossack Fonseca cabinet, sensitive documents analyzed by the investigative consortium ICIJ which caused a global shock wave, leading in particular to the resignation of the Icelandic Prime Minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson.

According to the exploitation by several media of the "Panama Papers", they have brought to light a vast system of tax evasion passing through front companies, in which several hundred banks have helped their clients.

At least 150 investigations have been opened in 79 countries into possible situations of tax evasion or money laundering, according to the American Center for Public Integrity.

In 2018, the Mossack Fonseca firm announced the cessation of its activities due to “irreparable damage” inflicted on its reputation.

For its part, Panama is fighting to be removed from several blacklists of tax havens.

With AFP

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