Prosecutors raid Panama Papers law firm Mossack Fonseca

Organised crime prosecutors have raided the Panama City headquarters of Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the centre of the “Panama Papers” leak.

Carlos Soussa-Lennox, a spokesman for the firm, told the Financial Times that the inspection — which local media reports suggested had started at 3pm local time — was still under way eight hours later.

Soon after news reports based on a trove of documents from the firm began emerging more than a week ago, Panama's government had said it would investigate. A half dozen police officers set up a perimeter around the offices while prosecutors searched inside for documents.

The attorney general's office said in a statement that the objective of the raid was "to obtain documentation linked to the information published in news articles that establish the use of the firm in illicit activities." It said searches also were made at other subsidiaries of the firm in Panama and at the telephone company's computer support centre.
Mossack Fonseca has denied any wrongdoing, saying it only set up offshore financial accounts and anonymous shell companies for clients and was not involved in how those accounts were used.

The law firm said on its Twitter account Tuesday night that it "continues to co-operate with authorities in investigations begin made at our headquarters."

The search came a day after intellectual property prosecutors visited Mossack Fonseca to follow up on the firm's allegations that a computer hack led to the leak of millions of documents about tax havens.

The firm filed a complaint charging the security breach shortly before the first media reports working with the documents offered details on how politicians, celebrities and companies around the globe were hiding assets in offshore accounts and shell companies.

"Finally the real criminals are being investigated," co-founder Roman Fonseca said in a message to The Associated Press on Monday.

Fonseca has maintained that the only crime which can be taken from the leak was the computer hack itself. He has said he suspects the hack originated outside Panama, possibly in Europe, but has not given any details.
The law firm is one of the most important in the world for creating overseas front companies.