Aishwarya Rai Bachchan Questioned For Alleged Foreign Exchange Violations
Sources said Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has already submitted records on foreign payments she has received in the past 15 years.
New Delhi:
Actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate today on forex violation allegations related to the Panama Papers.
The probe agency recorded the 48-year-old actor’s statement in Delhi on allegations that she parked her money in a company based in the British Virgin Islands, sources said.
Aishwarya Rai, the daughter-in-law of megastar Amitabh Bachchan, had been summoned earlier too but had twice sought more time.
The Enforcement Directorate started investigating the allegations in 2017. It 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 said Aishwarya Rai has already submitted records on foreign payments she has received in the past 15 years.
According to sources, she was the director of an offshore company, Amic Partners, set up in the British Virgin Islands in 2004. Law firm Mossack Fonseca registered the company, which had a paid up capital of $50,000.
The actor allegedly exited the company in 2009; it was acquired by Dubai-based BKR Adonis.
“The Panama Papers” case is a sprawling investigation spanning millions of documents stolen from Mossack Fonseca and leaked to the media in 2016. The case involves allegations that the world’s rich and powerful set up offshore accounts or shell companies to avoid taxes. Leaked financial records of politicians, industrialists and celebrities worldwide were reviewed and published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
Over 300 Indians were said to be part of the Panama Papers.
