The BBC’s Panorama programme claims the men named in the papers used Appleby to hide their ownership as a means of laundering money earned through violence, drugs and gun running.
Appleby says there is no evidence it helped launder the gang’s money, as described by the BBC, nor was there any due diligence failure.
“We do not know the truth of these allegations but at no point has Panorama produced any evidence that these allegations were known or should have been known to Appleby,” the firm said.
“They were not. To be clear, there was no suggestion in the information which Appleby had that these individuals were involved in any criminal activity.
“It is absurd to insinuate accusations against Appleby in relation to alleged failures of client due diligence on the basis of information which was simply not available at the time.”
The law firm added that the court case against the original publishers of the leaked documents, the BBC and the Guardian, is going ahead as planned.
