Fears grow over hackings of Panamanian law firm databases

The confidential data stored in the internal databases of Panamanian law firms are at risk of being hacked, according to Jose Alberto Alvarez, president of the National Council of Panamanian Lawyers (CNA, in Spanish).

Other Panamanian law firms could find themselves in a similar predicament to that of globally notorious law firm Mossack Fonseca, whose shenanigans were exposed in a global scandal that has inflicted serious damage to the image of the whole country. “There is a tangible fear that something akin to that could happen again”, Mr. Alvarez stated, in reference to the Panama Papers scandal. He added that many of the association’s constituent members have inquired about the risk of their IT systems being hacked.

Mr. Alvarez was in no doubt as to the effect of the scandal on the local legal industry. “We have already heard from a number of member firms that business has fallen. Do you know what will happen? The same that occurred at the end of the 1980s – many clients of Panamanian firms will go elsewhere, just as they did during the final years of the Noriega dictatorship. Then, it was the naval registry of Belize that sprang up as an alternative to Panama”, he argued.

On April 3rd, over a hundred media outlets around the world published the leaked database of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, revealing 45 years-worth of confidential documents covering clients of offshore companies created by the firm around the world. Many of those offshore companies were allegedly employed in tax avoidance schemes by their final beneficiaries, with the aid of Mossack Fonseca.  

According to the CNA, last week’s raid of Mossack Fonseca’s offices by the Public Ministry “violated the very bonds of confidentiality that are the cornerstone of the legal profession”, by confiscating the information contained in over 100 computers, when they [the PM] were supposed only to investigate some 16 offshore companies”.