Moscow, June 30 (UNI) A court in Panama has acquitted 28 individuals accused of money laundering linked to the Panama Papers scandal and the Lava Jato case due to a lack of evidence to confirm the accuracy of media reports and the criminal intent on the part of the suspects, La Prensa newspaper reported on Saturday.
The list of those acquitted includes the founders of the now-defunct Mossack Fonseca law firm, Jurgen Mossack and Ramon Fonseca Mora, who has died shortly before sentencing, its employees and citizens of German origin, according to the newspaper.
The evidence gathered from Mossack Fonseca's servers reportedly does not meet the requirement for chain of custody and digital evidence protocols, primarily due to the lack of "hash values" that would guarantee their authenticity and integrity.
In 2016, a massive leak of documents from Mossack Fonseca and an investigation conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists revealed the alleged involvement of numerous world leaders and their associates in offshore schemes. Mossack Fonseca refused to confirm the authenticity of the leaked archive.
Jurgen Mossack and Ramon Fonseca were detained in Panama in February 2017 and released on bail in April. Their firm was accused of creating accounts used by Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht for money laundering.
UNI SPUTNIK GNK