At Panama Papers trial, defendants deny responsibility and plead innocence. In Panama, the crime of tax evasion has only been punishable since 2019 and for amounts exceeding $300,000 per year.
Some provisions of Panama's anti-money laundering laws were not yet in place when the case broke, which could make convictions more difficult. In the meantime, after this scandal, Panama allowed it in 2023 to be removed from the “grey list” of the anti- money laundering organization GAFI.