New Delhi: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has left the Enforcement Directorate office after facing a four-hour interrogation in connection with the Panama Papers case.
Aishwarya accompanied by her aides reached the ED office in the national capital on Monday after she was summoned by the central investigation agency. ED has earlier registered a case under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
ED had earlier summoned Aishwarya twice in connection with this case. Aishwarya’s name was among the 500 Indians who were featured in the list alleging a massive leak of 11.5-million-dollar tax documents exposing secret offshore entities.
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What are Panama Papers
The Panama Papers came to the fore when they were leaked by a whistleblower named John Doe in 2016. The Panama papers with encrypted documents were leaked by Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), a German newspaper, unfolding one of the greatest scandals in the world. The papers revealed multiple names from over 200 countries. The Panama Papers include financial details of almost 2,14,488 offshore entities.
Several big names from around the world were exposed in the papers. These included current and former world leaders, public officials, politicians, celebrities and big corporates. The Panamanian offshore law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca was found to have helped these figures to evade tax and international sanctions.
Indian Connection
The revelation of the Panama Papers also raised a major controversy in India after names of several personalities including superstars like Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, cricket star Sachin Tendulkar, popular names like Iqbal Mirchi and even Adani family’s older brother Vinod Adani featured in the leaked documents. Over 500 Indian names were found its place in the Panama Papers.
Significantly, exposure of the names of several personalities caused a massive outrage as the Panama Papers leaked close on the heels of the Swiss Bank scandal.
