The ICIJ or International Consortium of Investigative Journalists published a huge leak of documents on Sunday, dubbed the Panama Papers. The "Panama Papers" have cast light on the financial arrangements of high profile politicians and public figures and the companies and financial institutions they use for such activities. The documents do not necessarily indicate illegal activity. But shell companies and offshore accounts can be used to mask the origin of financial transactions and ownership. The files include people and companies that the U.S. has blacklisted due to drug trafficking and terrorism links, according to the ICIJ.Among those named in the documents are friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin and relatives of the leaders of China, Britain, Iceland and Pakistan, and the president of Ukraine.The more-than 11 million documents, which date back four decades, are allegedly connected to Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca. ICIJ reports that the firm helped establish secret shell companies and offshore accounts for global power players. ICIJ reports that a 2015 audit found that Mossack Fonseca knew the identities of the real owners of just 204 of 14,086 companies it had incorporated in Seychelles, an Indian Ocean archipelago often described as a tax haven.
In a printed statement given to press by a staff member at Mossack Fonseca's Hong Kong office on Tuesday, the firm said it has never been charged with or formally investigated for criminal wrongdoing in its nearly 40 years of operation.
"We do not advise clients on how to operate their businesses. We don't link ourselves in any way to companies we help incorporate," the firm said in the statement.
"Excluding the professional fees we earn, we don't take possession of clients' money, or otherwise have anything to do with any of the direct financial aspects related to operating these businesses."
Mossack Fonseca also said it supports international initiatives requiring greater transparency of newly incorporated companies and trusts and has implemented such measures as part of its own due diligence.
