BAIL REQUESTS submitted by Ramón Fonseca and Jürgen Mossack, founding partners of the Mossack Fonseca law firm have been denied bail  by a Panama appeals court.

Fonseca and Mossack, under investigation for money laundering  are  in detention  at the headquarters of the National Police in Ancón.

Opposing bail, prosecutors said the men pose a flight risk and could impede the investigation by destroying evidence.

Judge Baloísa Marquínez cited those factors as the basis for denying the bail request.

Marquínez said that "the evidence from the investigation indicates that the accused belong

to a criminal organization dedicated to the concealment of...criminal proceedings being investigated in Brazil."

According to Brazilian authorities, the firm Mossack Fonseca formed offshore companies that were used to hide bribes given to politicians in exchange for contracts from the state­owned  company Petrobras.

Two other lawyers from Mossack Fonseca, including the head of the firm's office in Brazil, are also being detained in the case