‘Baseless accusations’: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw defends husband after Pandora Papers

Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has defended her husband John Shaw, who is one of the many individuals named in the Pandora Papers investigation. She said that the media has “grossly misrepresented” the facts and that she would like to clear the air. The investigation, undertaken by 600 journalists from 150 media outlets in 117 countries, revealed a long list of global leaders, industrialists, celebrities, sportspersons, politicians who have amassed millions in secret offshore assets.

According to the report, the Biocon promoter’s husband set up a trust with keys to a person who has been banned by the SEBI for insider trading.

Mazumdar-Shaw said that John Shaw is a UK national who set up an investment company, Glentec International, from his foreign currency earnings in 1999. The company was set up to acquire the shares that Unilever held in Biocon. Glentec is a registered entity in Mauritius and has been disclosed to both RBI and SEBI. “When Biocon went public in 2004, Glentec’s shareholding in Biocon was disclosed and this information continues to be in public domain. Glentec holds 19.76 per cent of Biocon Ltd as per latest disclosures to the stock exchanges,” she said in a filing on Monday.

Glentec is a bonafide offshore company whose income from India largely consists of tax paid dividends received from Biocon, she said. John Shaw’s tax returns in India report his shareholding and directorship in Glentec. Mazumdar-Shaw added that the company is audited as per statutes and full disclosure of its dividend income.

She added that Glentec set up the Deanstone Trust to enable philanthropic endowments and for the purpose of estate planning for the family members. Mazumdar-Shaw said that the trust is managed by independent trustees who are not residents of India. Glentec is the sole settlor of the trust. “Both John Shaw and I are neither trustees, nor settlors, nor beneficiaries of this trust. Beneficiaries of this trust, who are family members are foreign nationals and not resident Indians,” she said.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said the advisor to John Shaw and Glentec is Kunal Kashyap, who she says, has no legal authority to either control or influence the trust, and is neither a settlor, trustee, beneficiary nor a protector of the trust. “His role reported as a protector of the trust, in media reports is factually incorrect,” she said.

The Biocon chief also said that the overseas properties mentioned in the reports are mainly owned by Glentec as part of its real estate investments.

"I would like to assure you that no Indian resident holds ‘the key’ to this offshore trust as alleged in these stories. These are completely baseless accusations. Both John Shaw and I are law abiding citizens and have always been in compliance with all the applicable regulations," she added.

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