US agency yet to act months after Panama Papers leak

WASHINGTON — Nearly three months after the revelations from the Panama Papers exposed politicians, drug cartels and the wealthy hiding millions behind offshore companies, the U.S. Justice Department has yet to ask its Panamanian counterpart for access to seized records.

The inaction raises questions about the response by Congress and the Obama administration to the unprecedented leak that rocked governments in Iceland, Pakistan and the United Kingdom and prompted investigations worldwide.

“The biggest financial scandal involving offshores is greeted with a yawn by U.S. law enforcement officials?” said Charles Intriago, a former federal prosecutor and money-laundering expert in Miami. “It doesn’t make any sense that a pot of evidentiary gold is going unpursued by the U.S. Department of Justice.”

In the weeks following the April 3 publication of stories across the globe about hidden offshore fortunes, President Barack Obama vowed to work with Congress to tackle reform aimed at offshore companies.

Yet as of June 23, Panama said it had not received a single request from the United States for access to the data seized by Panamanian authorities from Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the heart of the Panama Papers, said Sandra Sotillo, spokeswoman for Panamanian Attorney General Kenia Porcell.

On Capitol Hill, there is also little movement.

Obama’s proposed legislation to change reporting on the true owners of companies does not appear to have found any sponsor.

The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, Oregon’s Ron Wyden, and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., who sits on the Judiciary Committee, have unsuccessfully tried to attach an amendment to a defense spending bill. The plan would have made states provide the names of the true owners of limited liability companies to the Treasury Department.

On April 12, Panamanian authorities raided the offices of Mossack Fonseca, whose 11.5 million leaked documents provided the material for the yearlong secret and collaborative global reporting effort led by the U.S. nonprofit the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

Authorities in Brazil, Peru and El Salvador also raided offices or intermediaries associated with Mossack Fonseca. The law firm quit its Nevada and Wyoming operations after state penalties and probes.