Geneva authorities reportedly detained the worker after prosecutors received information from the law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers data leak, one of the largest in history. It has been reported by the BBC that the individual in question has been detained on suspicion of removing large volumes of data from Mossack Fonseca, though prosecutors have not yet confirmed whether the alleged data theft is linked to the massive April leak. Suddeutsche Zeitung, the news organisations which received the initial approach from the anonymous Panama Paper whistleblower, has reportedly said that the arrested technician is not the same person behind the massive dump of 11.9 million Mossack Fonseca files to the international media.
‘John Doe’
Last month, the individual behind the document leak—identifying themselves only as ‘John Doe’—released an 1,800-word statement about their decision to expose the inner-workings of Mossack Fonseca and its clients. The whistleblower insisted that they have never worked for a spy agency or any national government and cited ‘income equality’ as their motivation for the leak. At the center of the scandal, Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca has insisted that its operations and the services it provides to clients are all perfectly legal, if controversial.
Sources: Australasian Lawyer; BBC; Bloomberg BigLaw Business
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