A spokesperson from the Geneva prosecutors office told Reuters that it had opened an investigation in response to a complaint from Mossack Fonseca, but wouldn’t comment further.
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The BBC reported that the employee was put under arrest at the firm’s office in Geneva and is under investigation for three accusations pushed by the firm, including data theft.
The employee was placed under provisional detention several days ago, the Swiss newspaper Le Temps is reporting, under suspicion of having “extracted a very large volume of confidential information” from the law firm, during “a recent period”, according to a source. It wasn’t clear, however, whether the arrested man had any link to the millions of pages of Mossack Fonseca documents that were leaked to worldwide reporters and fueled months of news reports that lifted the veil on global banking secrecy. The newspaper quoted a lawyer for the arrested worker denying all charges.
The probe is being led by prosecutor Claudio Mascotto, his spokesman said.
The leak to journalists prompted the prime minister of Iceland to resign in April and turned the spotlight on the use of tax havens by financial and political heavyweights.
No one answered the phone at Mossack Fonseca’s Geneva office during regular office hours.
In a 1,800-word statement, “John Doe” said he had never worked for a spy agency or a government and cited “income equality” as a motive for the leak. The whistle-blower offered to assist authorities in making criminal cases in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
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