The owner of a Modigliani painting allegedly looted by the Nazis has insisted there is no proof it was taken from a Jewish art dealer, after the Panama Papers leak led to it being briefly seized, AFP reports.
Authorities in Geneva sequestered the painting in April after the release of millions of documents from law firm Mossack Fonseca revealed the identity of the portrait's current owner, billionaire art dealer David Nahmad, through his offshore company.
Swiss authorities looked into the case before indicating last month that the painting, worth an estimated $25 million, could be returned to Nahmad.
Mondex Corp, a Canadian group that helps track looted assets, says the work belonged to British art dealer Oscar Stettiner, a Jew who fled Paris in 1939 prior to the Nazi occupation.
But Nahmad, who is himself Jewish and says he could never accept art looted by the Nazis, says there is no concrete evidence that Stettiner was ever robbed of the work, or even owned it.