Trove of documents stolen from the Mossack Fonseca law firm

Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the centre of the so-called Panama Papers leaks, said it would stop the online publication of raw data relating to its business in order to protect the confidentiality of its clients.

It said on Friday in Mexico City that the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) is set to publish an interactive database on details of more than 200,000 shell companies, on its website on Monday.

Fonseca said it has called on the ICIJ not to put the data online because the database is based on the theft of confidential information and is a violation of the confidentiality agreement between attorney and client, which we must protect.

“It is important for us to make clear that we operate, in all jurisdictions, under strict compliance with the law and regulations of the industry in all services provided, respecting strong client identification norms.

The release of the Panama Papers detailing information on numerous politicians, celebrities and sports personalities hiding their assets in shell companies caused a media storm at the beginning of April.

The information is said to have been passed to German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung by an anonymous source.