Aishwarya Rai summoned by ED in Panama Papers Case

Bollywood actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the Panama Papers leak case, said reports. The probe agency has reportedly registered a money laundry case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in the matter.

If reports are to be believed, the actor has been asked to appear before the ED today at the Loknayak Bhawan here. As per the TV reports, the ED officials have already prepared a list of questions to interrogate the actor over allegations of stashing wealth abroad. However, she has sought more time to appear before the agency.

This is not the first time, Aishwarya has been summoned by the ED. Earlier also she was asked to appear before the agency but she had failed to appear before the Enforcement Directorate twice.

According to sources, the Enforcement Directorate 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.

In 2016, more than 11 million documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) of Mossack Fonseca (MF), a Panama-based law firm, were leaked. The leaked document called 'Panama Papers' revealed a global network of offshore companies helping the wealthy hide their assets.

The list of prominent personalities, who were found to be attached with offshore companies across the world in the leaked Panama Papers, includes names like Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, DLF owner K P Singh and Gautam Adani's elder brother Vinod Adani.

According to the investigation conducted by a chain of media outlets including Indian publication The Indian Express, over 500 Indians figure on the Panama Papers's list of offshore companies.

The leaked documents had then revealed that Aishwarya Rai and her family members were part of a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, a tax haven, for at least three years.

The company shortened Aishwarya Rai's name to A Rai for reasons of confidentiality. The company also changed Aishwarya's status in the firm; from director to the shareholder.

Till 2003, no Indian was allowed to set up an overseas entity. But in 2004, RBI liberalized the norms and allowed Indians to buy shares in overseas companies but never allowed them to set up companies abroad. The leaked papers have revealed that most of the offshore companies set up by the Indians were much before 2004.