"Panama Papers" trial: 28 defendants acquitted by the courts

28 people involved in the Panama Papers trial were all acquitted on Friday, eight years after the publication of the investigation by a consortium of investigative journalists into the vast tax evasion network.

Among the acquitted defendants are the founders of the firm, Ramon Fonseca, who died on May 9 in a Panamanian hospital at the age of 71, as well as Jürgen Mossack. The court ruled that the evidence collected on the law firm's servers did not respect the chain of custody and did not make it possible to establish with certainty their authenticity and integrity.

Panamanian prosecutors say law firm Mossack Fonseca and its associates created a network of offshore companies to hide funds linked to illegal activities in the "car wash" corruption scandal involving Brazilian construction company Odebrecht . This scandal has tarnished Panama's international reputation, prompting international financial institutions to demand measures to strengthen control of the banking and financial systems, explained Alexis Triboulard, Videojournalist, AP.

“Furthermore, the judge determined that the remaining evidence was not sufficient and conclusive to determine criminal liability” of the defendants, the statement said. The provisional measures which weighed on the defendants were all lifted. At least 140 political leaders or prominent personalities were singled out by the revelations of the collective of journalists. The investigations focused on 11.5 million documents from the archives of the Mossack Fonseca firm, which has since closed its doors.