Mumbai: In Panama Papers Case, actor Aishwarya Rai has been called for summoning by the Enforcement Directorate. The probe agency wants to question the 48-year-old actor over allegations of stashing wealth abroad, the sources said.
Aishwarya Rai had also been summoned earlier for questioning, but she had twice sought more time.
“The Panama Papers” case is a sprawling investigation spanning millions of documents stolen and leaked to the media in 2016, which involve allegations that the world’s rich and powerful set up offshore accounts or shell companies to avoid taxes.
The leaked documents were originally obtained by German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung. At least 12,000 of these fresh documents are linked to Indians. The previous leak was reported in 2016 where more than 500 Indians were named in the documents of Mossack Fonseca, a law firm based in tax haven Panama.
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. Superstar Amitabh Bachchan’s name also featured in the list.
The report stated that 426 Indians are under the scrutiny of the multi-agency group (MAG) set up by the central government. Black money of over Rs 1,000 crore had been detected by the MAG probing the leads from 2016 leak.
Earlier in July, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had alleged that he was offered Rs 1,000 crore on behalf of Shahbaz Sharif to withdraw the Panama Papers case against former PM Nawaz Sharif, who was also named in the case. The Supreme Court of Pakistan took action against Nawaz Sharif and disqualified him for dishonesty and ordered corruption cases to be filed against him and his children.
Two years after the first leak of documents, a fresh leak of Panama Papers was reported. Those Indian nationals whose links to offshore entities were confirmed in the fresh leak included:
Shiv Vikram Khemka – SUN group patriarch Nand Lal Khemka’s son
Actor Amitabh Bachchan
Jehangir Sorabjee – the son of former attorney general Soli Sorabjee
DLF Group’s KP Singh and his immediate family
Anurag Kejriwal – the former Delhi Lok Satta Party leader
Navin Mehra of Mehrasons Jewellers
Hajra Iqbal Memon- Wife of underworld don Iqbal Mirchi.
Actor Abhishek Bacchan had also recently been summoned for questioning by the ED. The summons to Aishwarya and Abhishek were issued under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.
The Panama Papers case is being probed by an SIT consisting of officers from ED, Income Tax, and other agencies.
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