ED questions Aishwarya Rai in Panama papers leak case

New Delhi: Actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate at its Delhi headquarters in a case linked to the 2016 ‘Panama papers’. She is facing money laundering claims for her alleged involvement in an offshore entity/trust.
Sources said Aishwarya is one of the directors of an entity/trust that is under probe for alleged laundering of tax-evaded income. Her mother and other family members are also likely to be questioned for their alleged role in the entity, they said.
Aishwarya’s actor-husband Abhishek Bachchan and father-in-law, superstar Amitabh Bachchan, are already facing a probe in separate cases being investigated by the ED under the Foreign Exchange Management Act and the PMLA. The Bachchans have been quizzed for their involvement in separate entities registered in tax havens as early as 2004-05.
Many of these entities (for alleged involvement in which the Bachchans, including Aishwarya Rai, have been questioned), generally created for tax evasion and holding of unaccounted assets, have been shut down since the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers leaks in 2016.
So far, a multi-agency probe has revealed unaccounted income of more than Rs 20,000 crore laundered by at least 970 entities/individuals in the two paper-leak cases, according to the finance ministry. Many of these cases have been booked under the Black Money Act and the PMLA. Taxes of Rs 154 crore have been collected from some of the entities/individuals in some cases.According to the ministry, in 52 cases of Panama Papers and Paradise Papers leaks, criminal prosecution complaints have been filed under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) Act. Further, in 130 cases, proceedings under the Black Money Act have been initiated. Further, in the recent Pandora Papers leak, the government has constituted a multiagency group to investigate cases. It has members from ED, RBI, Income-Tax department and the Financial Intelligence Unit.