Jacqueline Fernandez appears before ED for questioning in ‘conman’ case

Actor Jacqueline Fernandez on Monday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for a fresh round of questioning and recording her statement in a money laundering case linked to alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar and others, officials said.The agency had in April provisionally attached Rs 7.27 crore funds of the Bollywood actor under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).The 36-year-old actor has been questioned two-three times by the agency in the said case earlier.

The actor was issued fresh summons for recording of her statement on Monday as the agency is tracing the remaining proceeds of crime in this case, officials said.A provisional order was issued against her for attaching fixed deposits worth Rs 7.12 crore apart from Rs 15 lakh cash as the agency called these funds as “proceeds of crime”.“Sukesh Chandrasekhar had given various gifts worth Rs 5.71 crore to  Jacqueline Fernandez from the proceeds of crime generated by criminal activities including extortion.” “Chandrasekhar had put Pinky Irani, his long time associate and co-accused in this case to deliver the said gifts to her,” the ED had then said in a statement. In addition to these gifts, it said, Chandrasekhar also gave “funds to the tune of USD 1,72,913 (about Rs 1.3 crore as per current exchange rate) and AUD 26740 (approx. Rs 14 lakh) to the close family members of Fernandez out of the proceeds of crime through co-accused Avtar Singh Kochhar, an established and well known international hawala operator.” The agency said its probe found that Chandrasekhar had “delivered cash to the tune of Rs 15 lakh to a script writer on behalf of Fernandez as advance for writing a script of her webseries project.” Fernandez is a Sri Lankan national and she made her debut in the Hindi film industry in 2009.