Panama Papers: Local police raid Mossack Fonseca offices to unearth documents related to data leak
The inquiry was carried out 'without incident', though the firm has maintained it has done nothing illegal.
Police in Panama City on Tuesday raided the headquarters of law firm Mossack Fonseca, which has been at the centre of a massive data leak that revealed how the world’s powerful stash their money in offshore tax havens. Investigators said the raids were carried out “without incident or interference”, the BBC reported.
The local police and officials from the organised crime unit searched for documents in the company headquarters. They also said they would carry out their inquiries at Mossack Fonseca’s subsidiaries.
The “Panama Papers” controversy broke on April 4, when details of more than 11 million documents from the firm were made public through a massive international investigative journalism project. Some of the world's top leaders and celebrities were named, including 500 Indians. India and several other governments have started investigations into the alleged tax frauds. Panama’s President Juan Carlos Varela said his country would work towards improving transparency relating to offshore finance processes. The firm, however, has denied any wrongdoing and said its data had been hacked.