Intelligence agencies from several countries, including intermediaries of the CIA, used the services of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca to “conceal” their activities, according to German media
Citing leaked documents, the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) said that both “secret agents and their informants have used the company’s services”
“Agents have set up shell companies to conceal their activities” the newspaper reported, adding that there were CIA mediators among them.
BYPASS THE CENSORS
Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox.
You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use
Earlier this month the newspaper published online materials based on 11.5 million documents from the Panamanian law firm. Still causing shock waves, this has been called the largest leak on corruption in the history of journalism.
News World India reports:
The Munich-based newspaper said Mossack Fonseca’s clients included “several players” in the 1980s Iran-Contra scandal, which saw senior US officials facilitate secret arms sales to Iran in a bid to secure the release of American hostages and fund Nicaragua’s Contra rebels.
The Panama Papers also reveal that “current or former high-ranking officials of the secret services of at least three countries… Saudi Arabia, Colombia and Rwanda” are listed amongst the company’s clients, the Sueddeutsche said.
Among them was Sheikh Kamal Adham, the former Saudi intelligence chief who died in 1999. Adham “spent the 1970s as one of the CIA’s key intermediaries” in the Middle East, the daily said.
The Sueddeutsche Zeitung received the huge stash of Mossack Fonseca documents from an anonymous source and shared them with more than 100 media groups through the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
A week after the first revelations, the documents have shed light on how the world’s rich and powerful have used offshore companies to stash their assets, forcing Iceland’s prime minister to resign and putting pressure on a slew of other leaders around the world.
Last week WikiLeaks reported that the US government along with American hedge-fund billionaire George Soros had allegedly funded the Panama Papers to attack Russian president Putin. According to the international whistleblowing organization, Washingtons funding of such an attack appeared to be a serious blow to its integrity.
Niamh Harris
Be the first to comment