Ramon Fonseca, of the suddenly famous law firm Mossack & Fonseca – housed in an impressive steel and glass building in the canal country of Panama – could be the real Tailor of Panama.
Did John Le Carre’s fictional Harry Pendel just come to life? Except that Fonseca tailor-makes companies to suit his purpose.
He does so for the rich, famous, powerful, and dangerous too. The fictional ex-convict Harry made bespoke suits for the Who’s Who of Panama, pretending he was Savile Row, not prison-craft. Plus he tailored information for MI6 to overthrow the government.
The juicy ‘Panama Papers’ from Fonseca, involving laundered money, dodged sanctions, and evaded taxes of some 240,000 companies over 40 years, has just come to light.
Fonseca insists THAT his is a respectable firm, perfectly legitimate, and he is just a ‘victim of an international campaign against privacy’.
But this line isn’t working, particularly when the top link in the scandal involves Vladimir Putin, and at least $2 billion. Xi Jinping, running an anti-corruption drive in China, along with protectee Nawaz Sharif, features too.
The client list roll-calls kings, 72 former heads of state, prime ministers, lawyers, international mafia, solo gangsters, politicians, dictators, businessmen, bankers, actors, footballers – and FIFA too.