MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Mossack Fonseca is currently in the center of an international tax avoidance scandal. It allegedly helped the rich and powerful evade taxes using offshore companies.
According to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, secret agents and informants across the world, including the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) mediators, widely used the services of the firm and opened shell companies to conceal their activities.
The newspaper added that the current or former senior officials of the intelligence services from Saudi Arabia, Colombia and Rwanda were also involved with the firm.
Earlier in April, the newspaper exposed alleged involvement of a number of former and current world leaders in tax haven schemes using the information obtained in materials allegedly leaked from Mossack Fonseca.
Mossack Fonseca responded to the leak by refusing to validate the information and accused reporters of gaining unauthorized access to its proprietary documents. It warned that using unlawfully-obtained data was a crime that it would not hesitate to punish by legal means.