In a plot twist worthy of a soap opera, a Panamanian court has acquitted 28 individuals accused in the Panama Papers and Operation Car Wash scandals, citing shaky evidence and witness no-shows.

Despite the explosive revelations of the Panama Papers and Operation Car Wash scandals, a Panamanian court dismissed charges against 28 defendants, overturning years of high-profile investigations with a wave of the gavel and a well-timed shrug. Key witnesses developed sudden cases of 'no-show syndrome,' and evidence proved as reliable as a snow cone in the Panamanian sun, leading Judge Baloisa Marquinez to scrap the case and lift all precautionary measures against the accused. In a twist to work into any telenovela, the barracks of global corruption have never looked so tidy.

The court's decision leaves numerous questions unanswered, not least the identities of the freshly acquitted. Judge Baloisa Marquinez, for reasons known only to the judicial gods, chose not to disclose the names of the 28 individuals who can now return to their lives unburdened by pesky money-laundering accusations. It seems anonymity suits Panama's legal system just as well as the defendants.

In an interesting twist, the ruling also saw the cancellation of a criminal process due to the death of an unnamed defendant. One can't help but wonder if this mysterious figure's case would have added a missing piece to a jigsaw puzzle that's more hole than image. Ramon Fonseca, co-founder of the nefariously famous law firm Mossack Fonseca, died in May after being hospitalized since early April.

Mossack Fonseca catapulted into the limelight in 2016 when a cache of leaked documents, later renamed the Panama Papers, revealed a web of offshore accounts owned by public figures. The scandal turned a mundane law firm into a Pandora’s box of intrigue, with everyone from former Argentine President Mauricio Macri to football legend Lionel Messi caught in its snare.

But even the juiciest scandal is only as good as its evidence. And evidently, the evidence collected from Mossack Fonseca's servers remembered its manners just enough to fail to comply with the chain of custody requirements. In layman’s terms, the digital breadcrumbs dissolving into digital dust were not enough to forge a trail-to-malice solid enough for court.

Judge Marquinez also imposed fines on ten witnesses, each hit with a 100 balboa ($100) penalty for ignoring court summonses. It appears the witnesses had better things to do or perhaps were all busy scheduling their own cleansings. The judge, however, deemed this disciplinary gesture sufficient to close the book on the matter, handing out fines as if they were parking tickets.

The case’s denouement might leave some questioning if this ruling could just be another déjà vu. After all, Operation Car Wash, which began in Brazil in 2014, was a veritable soap opera of scandal, sending dozens of Latin American business and political elites—presidents included—into the loving arms of justice. Yet, this grand finale seems much more like a thud than a bang.

Judge Marquinez decisively ruled that it couldn't be proven that funds from illicit sources had seeped their way into Panama from Brazil to obscure crimes—despite the extravagantly orchestrated Operation Car Wash revealing sprawling corruption schemes. The lack of definitive evidence effectively left the court tapping its gavel and the defendants whistling their way home.

And so, with a verdict befitting a dramatic cliffhanger, the court's decision mandates that all precautionary measures against the accused be lifted. If Panama's legal house-cleaning leaves more questions than answers, well, we can only hope someone’s taking notes for the sequel. After all, the world of international finance and political intrigue could always use another twist.