According to SZ, Mossack Fonseca’s clients also included some of those involved in the so-called Iran-Contra affair, in which several Reagan administration officials secretly facilitated arms sales to Iran in the 1980s in order to secure the release of U.S. hostages and fund Nicaragua’s Contra rebels.
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The leak of the firm’s documents, now known as The Panama Papers, alleges that the Panamanian firm helped the rich and powerful hide their money in offshore companies, leading to a circle of money laundering and tax evasion, among other serious crimes.
The firm filed a complaint regarding the security breach shortly before media reports appeared using the documents to detail how politicians, celebrities and companies around the globe were hiding assets.
The intellectual property prosecutor’s office visited Mossack Fonseca’s office, public ministry spokeswoman Sandra Sotillo said, according to the AP.
“The meeting of JITSIC leaders to discuss the Panama papers is unprecedented and a great opportunity to demonstrate global will and capability to take on this multilateral challenge when it matters most”, the spokesman added.
Earlier, founding partner Ramon Fonseca said the company had broken no laws, destroyed no documents, and all its operations were legal.
Federal agents and prosecutors are “chomping at the bit” to exploit the Panama Papers and launch prosecutions, a senior federal law enforcement official told NBC News – but want to be sure that the way the huge data dump about offshore money was obtained doesn’t jeopardize their cases.
Varela, the president, said last week that he was dispatching his finance minister to Paris on Tuesday to press home Panama’s willingness to cooperate on sharing tax information.
And wealthy citizens in Australia, France, India, Mexico, Peru, Spain and elsewhere face probes over suspected tax avoidance after their names figured in some of the 11.5 million documents. He also said he sent a letter to Spanish prosecutors authorizing them to investigate.
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Mossack Fonseca did not respond to requests for comment, reports Reuters. It has put UK Prime Minister David Cameron under pressure as his late father, according to the ICIJ, used the services of the Mossack Fonseca law firm to avoid having his investment fund pay any UK taxes.
