The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is likely to summon actor Amitabh Bachchan and his family members in connection with the foreign exchange violation probe now widely known as the Panama Papers case.

Explaination of financial transactions

In June, the agency had sent a notice to the Bachchan family, asking them to explain financial transactions abroad and details of an offshore company associated with them, as revealed through the Panama Papers.

On April 5, 2016, broke the story on Panama Papers and reported on several offshore companies belonging to Indians, opened through a company called Mossack Fonseca in Panama. One of these companies belonged to Bachchan’s family. accessed more than 11 million documents from the secret files of Mossack Fonseca. These records reveal a list of individuals who have paid the firm and bought the benefits of a secretive, lax regulatory system in which it operates and set up offshore entities.

As per RBI norms, before 2003 no Indian citizen could float an overseas entity. In 2004, individuals allowed to remit funds up to $25,000 a year under Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) and this limit stands at $250,000 a year now. While the RBI let individuals buy shares under LRS, it never allowed them to set up companies abroad, having clarified it through an FAQ midway in September 2010.