‘Panama Papers’ law firm says ‘hacked by servers abroad’

MIAMI BEACH, FL - APRIL 05: Condo buildings are seen April 5, 2016 in Miami Beach, Florida. A report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists referred to as the 'Panama Papers,' based on information anonymously leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonesca, indicates possible connections between condo purchases in South Florida and money laundering.   Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP
MIAMI BEACH, FL – APRIL 05: Condo buildings are seen April 5, 2016 in Miami Beach, Florida. A report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists referred to as the ‘Panama Papers,’ based on information anonymously leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonesca, indicates possible connections between condo purchases in South Florida and money laundering. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP

PANAMA City (AFP)– One of the founders of Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the center of the explosive “Panama Papers” revelations on off-shore holdings, told AFP on Tuesday his company was hacked by servers abroad.

Ramon Fonseca said the firm had lodged a criminal complaint with Panamanian prosecutors on Monday over the breach. He added that in all the reporting so far “nobody is talking of the hack, and that is the only crime that has been committed.”

In a telephone message responding to AFP questions, Fonseca said: “We have lodged a complaint. We have a technical report that we were hacked by servers abroad.”

He also rued the fact that reporting on the 11.5 million documents taken from Mossack Fonseca’s computer system focused on the high-profile clients who had used the law firm to set up offshore companies to hold their wealth.

“We don’t understand. The world is already accepting that privacy is not a human right,” he said.