Aishwarya Rai Bachchan summoned by ED for questioning in Panama Papers leak case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Aishwarya Rai Bachchan on Monday for questioning in Panama Papers leak case, Economic Times reported. The agency called on the actress to appear at their office for questioning and to record her statement. However, Aishwarya has reportedly sought another date for questioning.

ANI confirmed the development in a tweet as it tweeted, "Enforcement Directorate summons Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in a case being investigated by the agency: Sources." As per the news agency, a money laundering case was registered by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) against the actress. In fact, Aishwarya was reportedly summoned twice but sough time to appear before the ED.

The Panama Papers came to the fore in 2016 when they were leaked by a whistleblower named John Doe. He leaked the documents to a German journalist Bastian Obermayer. Accounting to almost 11.5 million leaked documents, the Panama Papers includes financial details of almost 214,488 offshore entities.

Several big names from around the world were named in the leak. These included current or former world leaders, public officials, politicians, celebrities and corporate people. The Panamanian offshore law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca was responsible for making these documents. In March 2018, the company Mossack Fonseca stated that it would cease operations at the end of that month due to "irreversible damage" to their image as a direct result of the Panama Papers.