Mossack Fonseca, the Panamanian law firm at the center of the biggest data hack in journalism history that has firmly placed the spotlight on world leaders, among plenty of others has claimed that the firm was the victim of an external hack, leading to the leak.
Mossack Fonseca, the fourth biggest offshore law firm in the world has been in the news recently. For decades, the law firm facilitated individuals and corporations to set up offshore shell companies. Following the leak, governments and authorities around the world are vowing to conduct their own investigation(s) to look into the possibility of tax evasion.
Now, founding partner at the law firm, Ramon Fonseca has claimed that the firm had broken now laws, stating that all of its operations were legal. In an interview with Reuters, the founding partner also claimed that the firm had never sought to destroy any documents. Nor had it, according to him, helped any individuals evade taxes and launder money.
The “Panama Papers” leak, he said, was “taken out of context” and was misrepresented by the global media, he claimed. He also added that his firm was the victim of an external hack. Furthermore, he stated that the firm has already filed a complaint with state prosecutors about the breach.
He stated:
We rule out an inside job. This is not a leak. This is a hack. We have a theory and we are following it.
Although he did not elaborate on the possible lead, he further stated: “We have already made the relevant complaints to the Attorney General’s office, and there is a government institution studying the issue.”
The Panama Papers altogether consists of 11.5 million documents. It contains emails and documents and scans of financial arrangements of prominent world leaders. The list of known figures includes friends of Russian President Vladmir Putin, the president of Ukraine, relatives of prime ministers of Britain and Pakistan as well as those of Chinese president Xi Jinping.
Claiming that the reaction of the world’s media was a “witch-hunt”, Fonseca added that the emails were “taken out of context.”
While the fallout from the leak sees extensive coverage from publications around the world, Fonseca dismissed it as “journalistic activism and sensationalism”. Instead, he sought to bring focus to the hack itself.
“The only crime that has been proven is the hack. No one is talking about that. That is the story.”
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