Mossack & Fonseca Investigation in Public Ministry Deep-Freeze

The Attorney General of the Republic, Kenia Porcell, has alleged links with the government which are deterring her from launching an investigation into the supposed acts of wrongdoing linking law firm Mossack & Fonseca to the international Panama Papers scandal.

Ms. Porcell was appointed to the Attorney General’s office, having first served as a loyal official in the Security Council, an entity headed by a close associate of President Varela: Rolando López. The entity is allegedly the primary source of manufactured judicial attacks against officials of the former administration.

Attorney General Porcell is now complicit in the deep-freezing of judicial cases affecting members of the ruling Panameñista party. These include not only Ramon Fonseca Mora, but also Bosco Vaillarino and Grimaldo Cordoba.

According to Juan Jované, an economist, Panama is already behind the curve relative to other countries, where investigations into the Panama Papers scandal have already been launched. He added that Panamanians demand to know what has truly happened: “we refuse to accept that this scandal should go by the name of “Panama Papers”; we demand that those that have so tarnished the image of the country be brought to justice”, he added.

In sharp contrast to the sheer inactivity of their Panamanian counterparts, yesterday the Public Prosecutor’s office of Venezuela ordered the immediate freezing of all bank accounts and assets of all Venezuelan citizens that have been implicated in the leaks of information from a firm domiciled in Panama. The Venezuelan authorities have stated that the people are under investigation for supposed crimes of money laundering and corruption.