ED questions Aishwarya Rai for 5 hours in Panama Papers leak case

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday questioned Bollywood actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan nearly 5 hours in Panama Papers leak case.

She deposed before the investigators following the summons issued by the federal agency against her to join the probe. The ED recorded the statement of the 48-year-old actress in the case over allegations of stashing wealth abroad under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999. The actress had earlier submitted records on the foreign payments under investigation.

The ED had issued notices to the Bachchan family asking them to explain their foreign remittances since 2004 under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) of the Reserve Bank of India.

Sources in the agency informed that Bachchan was summoned earlier too but she could not appear and sought next dates at least two times.

The Panama Papers pertain to leaked documents that point towards fraud and tax evasion by many individuals and corporate entities across the world. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s name featured in the list of 500 Indians who were named in the massive leak of 11.5 million tax documents exposing their secret offshore dealings.

Panama Papers Leak: ED दफ्तर से बाहर निकलीं ऐश्वर्या रॉय, 5 घंटे से ज्यादा चली पूछताछ pic.twitter.com/KdtmupemCp

— Newsroom Post (@NewsroomPostCom) December 20, 2021

“The Panama Papers” case is a sprawling investigation spanning millions of documents stolen and leaked to the media in 2016, which involves allegations that the world’s rich and powerful set up offshore accounts or shell companies to avoid taxes.

Over 300 Indians were said to be part of the Panama Papers. Many Indian celebrities including Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai were named in this paper leak.

All these people were accused of tax fraud. After the name surfaced in this case, Amitabh had said that he has sent money abroad only under Indian rules. He also denied having any affiliation with the companies that appeared in the Panama Papers.