"Pandora Papers wrongly implicate my husband"; Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw defends offshore trust's legitimacy

The explosive Pandora Papers, touted as the biggest ever leak of offshore data, has sparked a global controversy as the rich and powerful are caught in the net. Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Ambani, Nirav Modi have also been named in the controversial Pandora Papers investigation and the list goes on. It appears, the Pandora Papers have named 300 Indian individuals, which also includes Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the executive chairperson of biotechnology major Biocon.

Reacting to the leak, Mazumdar-Shaw took a firm stand against the allegations made with respect to the offshore trust called The Deanstone Trust. The leaked papers also alleged that offshore entities of Mazumdar-Shaw's husband John McCallum Marshall Shaw, a British citizen, have Biocon shares and $85 million.

Mazumdar-Shaw defended the offshore trust's legitimacy and claimed that her husband is being wrongly implicated.

"Media stories reporting on Pandora Papers wrongly implicate my husband's offshore trust, which is a bonafide, legitimate trust and is managed by Independent Trustees. No Indian resident holds "the key" to the trust as alleged in these stories," Mazumdar-Shaw, the executive chairperson of biotechnology major Biocon, said in a tweet.

"Pandora Papers"

Pandora Papers investigation unmasks the covert owners of offshore companies, incognito bank accounts, private jets, yachts, mansions, and even artworks by Pablo Picasso, Banksy and other masters, by providing more information than what is usually available to law enforcement agencies and cash-strapped governments.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) obtained the trove of more than 11.9 million confidential files and led a team of more than 600 journalists from 150 news outlets that spent two years sifting through them, tracking down hard-to-find sources and digging into court records and other public documents from dozens of countries, including India.

Pandora Papers is a follow-up to a similar project from 2016, which was called Panama Papers comprised of the same journalistic group.