Mossack Fonseca’s unofficial office raided in El Savador

Officials from the office of the attorney general in El Salvador have raided the local office of Mossack Fonseca and confiscated several documents and equipment.

In a report by Al Jazeera, after the Panama-based law firm at the centre of the massive data leak released what has now been dubbed the Panama Papers, the El Salvador office was raided on Friday with personal supervision by Attorney General Douglas Melendez.

According to the report, Melendez said the government decided to raid the offices after Mossack Fonseca removed its office sign late on Thursday, a move he claimed raised suspicions.

An employee of the law firm later said the company was planning to move, the attorney general later tweeted.

The El Salvador office of Mossack Fonseca is not listed on the company’s corporate website, hence the reason for the raid.Although the officials seized about 20 computers, some documents and interviewed seven employees, no one was detained, Melendez said.

“At this moment we cannot speak about [any] crimes; all we can do at this moment is our job,” he said.

He said the government would analyse all the confiscated information and examine its financial, accounting and legal aspects to see if any law has been broken.Mr Melendez said it appears Mossack Fonseca office in the country was helping to process information for clients worldwide.

The International Committee of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) coordinated investigations in at least 80 countries, exposing the shadowy offshore links of world leaders such as of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Bukola Saraki, David Mark and relatives of the prime ministers of Britain and Pakistan and the presidents of China and Ukraine.

Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, Iceland’s prime minister, was forced to quit office after an offshore company, owned by he and his wife, was revealed.