9 May, 2024 15:51
‘Panama Papers’ law firm boss dies
Panamanian banker Ramon Fonseca, a senior partner of the now-defunct law firm whose records were leaked in the Panama Papers scandal that exposed a global elite benefitting from offshore accounts, has died, his lawyer told the media on Thursday. He was 71 years old.
Over 11 million documents stolen from the firm Mossack Fonseca provided the basis for a series of international investigations in April 2016, embarrassing some 130,000 people in 170 countries. While Fonseca and his business partner Jurgen Mossack maintained their business was legitimate, the firm shuttered in 2018 due to “irreparable damage” to its reputation.
Former president of Panama Ricardo Martinelli called his classmate Fonseca “a great human being, lawyer, writer and politician.” Martinelli also claimed his successor Juan Carlos Varela was behind the “atrocious persecution” of Fonseca.
Fonsece died at a Panama City hospital. The details of his medical condition were not made public, but the condition was serious enough that he could not attend the trial, a member of his legal team told AFP.
Panamanian prosecutors charged Mossack and Fonseca with “concealing, covering up and providing false information to banks for the opening of accounts and concealing ownership of assets” as well as sending and receiving funds “from illicit activities in Germany and Argentina.”
https://www.rt.com/news/597316-panama-papers-ramon-fonseca/