Panama leaks: IT dept sends fresh questions to Amitabh Bachchan

The Income Tax department has sent a fresh set of queries to megastar Amitabh Bachchan after his denial of having any connection with the offshore companies mentioned in the ‘Panama Papers’.

Sources said the department has sent a new set of questions to Bachchan, seeking further details of his financial transactions as mentioned in the reports by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and relying on some “old information about the assessee” lying with the department.

They said, the actor, in his recent reply to the IT department, had categorically “denied” having any connection with or stake in the four alleged offshore firms as claimed in the leaked documents of the Panamanian firm Mossack Fonseca.

The actor has been asked to reply to the new questionnaire within a week’s time, they said.

Earlier, Bachchan had made a public statement, saying that his name had probably been misused. “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. It is possible that my name has been misused,” he had said.