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The attorney for Jurgen Mossack, Ramón Fonseca Mora, and Edison Teano, three senior partners of the disgraced law firm of Mossack & Fonseca, has reportedly filed for a Writ of Habeus Corpus, in a new attempt to obtain the pretrial release of her clients, whose alleged money laundering and tax evasion activities, on behalf of a multitude of clients, were brutally exposed in the Panama Papers.
Guillermina Macdonald, a former prosecutor herself, who represents the incarcerated MF lawyers, will now have her clients brought before a judge, who will determine whether they are being illegally held. The Court previously ruled that they must be detained, upon these grounds:
(1) The three lawyers are a flight risk; they are wealthy, and face criminal charges which could subject them to long prison terms.
(2) The Court fears, correctly, that they may, if released, destroy evidence. Panamanian law enforcement has previously found, in an obscure apartment controlled by MF, huge amounts of shredded and discarded legal files.
It is doubtful that any court will allow their release on bond, given prior rulings, the evidence thus far, and the high profile nature of the Brazilian case, which is popularly known as Car Wash," by the Brazilian media. Of course, given the rampant corruption present in the Panamanian court system, and Fonseca's close ties to Panamanian President Varela, the MF lawyers may never be convicted.
Should they be extradited to Brazil, however, their conviction and incarceration is much more likely; the Government of Brazil has already taken down many powerful defendants, linked to the widespread bribery, by Norberto Odebrecht SA, and I am sure it will want some more trophies.
Chronicles of Monte Friesner
Contributed by Kenneth Rijock
