Actor Amitabh Bachchan, whose name figured in the Panama Papers leak, on Tuesday denied that he knew any of the four offshore companies mentioned in the papers and said his name might have been “misused”.
A day after the names of Bachchan, his daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and her family members figured in the list of 500 Indians released by Mossack Fonseca, a law firm headquartered in tax haven Panama, the Big B denied that he did not know any of the companies linked to him in the newspaper report.
Seventy-three-year-old megastar also said that he had never been a director of any of the four offshore companies mentioned in the report. He also made it a point to mention that the news report did not suggest any illegality on his part.
Alluding to the news report in The Indian Express, Amitabh said in a brief statement, “I do not know any of the companies referred to by Indian Express — Sea Bulk Shipping Company ltd, lady Shipping ltd, Treasure Shipping ltd, and Tramp Shipping ltd. I have never been a director of any of the above stated companies”.
Maintaining that his name might have been misused, the veteran actor said, “It is possible that my name has been misused. I have paid all my taxes including on monies spent by me overseas. Monies that I have remitted overseas have been in compliance with law, including remittances through lRS, after paying Indian taxes”.
“In any event the news report does not even suggest any illegality on my part,” Amitabh added.
Among other things, the newspaper report had said, “Records of international law firm, Mossack Fonseca, reviewed by The Indian Express, and subsequent inquiries show that four companies, in which Bachchan was appointed director, were registered in tax havens — one in the British Virgin Islands and three in the Bahamas in November 1993”.