CLARIFICATION
Mossack Fonseca & Co. wishes to express its position regarding information reported in some media outlets. Our firm is being wrongly implicated in matters over which we have no involvement.
We clarify that:
- Mossack Fonseca is a leading international firm with a presence in more than 40 countries through its own and representative offices, with almost 40 years of experience in the legal industry. All our offices maintain the highest standards of due diligence, complying with all international standards.
- Mossack Fonseca Brazil is an independent entity of Mossack Fonseca & Co. Panama. As an independent entity, it represents our brand and sells international companies that our group incorporates through the various licenses it holds in several jurisdictions. That said, the Brazil office operates with its own management, resources, and personnel, independent of our group.
- The Brazilian representative office has been requested to provide information as part of the prosecutor’s investigations in several cases currently underway in that country. Through its legal representatives, it has stated that it is fully prepared to cooperate with authorities requesting information through the appropriate channels.
- The request to acquire the company was received by the Brazilian representative office from an independent intermediary professional, Ademir Auada, who serves end clients. • Upon receiving the request for incorporation of the aforementioned company (2005), the corresponding due diligence verification was conducted in compliance with the required standards. This review revealed no adverse results or links to politically exposed persons.
- Mossack Fonseca & Co., like other related firms, provides Registered Agent services in the various jurisdictions where it incorporates companies at the request of its clients; this service does not constitute any commercial relationship with the companies thus incorporated, nor does it imply any authority to manage or raise client funds. Under the provisions of the laws, registered agents have no liability for the commercial conduct of companies.
- We have a department that conducts exhaustive due diligence programs to verify the legitimacy of each of our clients in accordance with current legal regulations.
- The vast majority of our clients are regulated clients, such as top-tier banks, lawyers, accountants, other law firms, trust companies, etc., all of them commercially recognized and reputable companies and firms.
- We have not provided, in the past, nor do we currently provide, advisory or intermediation services of any kind for the purchase, loan, or financing of any property; nor do we offer real estate advisory services anywhere in the world, except for properties located within the Republic of Panama.
- We are always willing to cooperate with authorities requesting information through legally established channels and in compliance with the requirements of the respective legislation.
Regarding other points mentioned by the media, we clarify the following:
- Linking companies by physical address: By law, all Panamanian corporations must have a resident agent, who must be a lawyer or law firm. Companies formed by this resident agent have the physical address of the resident agent’s office.
- In Brazil, it is perfectly legal to establish or use offshore companies for any transaction, whether real estate or for another legitimate purpose, provided that current Brazilian legal provisions are complied with.
We will continue our nearly 40-year history of serving the international commercial, banking, legal, and financial community and will continue our efforts to become more efficient and useful every day to advance the business world.
