'Biocon did not make any political donation to JDS, I did': Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
“I would like to clarify that Biocon did not make any political donations to JD-S or any other party for elections,” she said, referring to her company
Biocon Ltd's executive chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has admitted to buying electoral bonds with “white money” but denied that her Bengaluru-based biopharmaceutical company had anything to do with the political donations.
In a post on X, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw clarified that she gave nominal funding to Janata Dal (Secular), the party of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda and other parties and stressed that the donations were made with “white money”.
No company donations
“I would like to clarify that Biocon did not make any political donations to JD-S or any other party for elections,” she said, referring to the biopharmaceuticals firm.
“At a personal level, I purchased electoral bonds which I donated to JD-S and several parties. My donations were nominal on the principle of funding election campaigns with white money,” she added.
She gave the clarification after an X user claimed that Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw donated ₹5 crore every month before the Karnataka assembly elections in May last year.
Incorrect math
"That's incorrect. Pls do the math," she said in response to the charge of her giving away ₹5 crore a month. A recheck showed her total donations were to the tune of ₹6 crore.
She insisted that the donations were not made for any favours. “Don’t make such allegations,” she told an X user. “I have never ever made any contributions for favours. It’s very sad to see such comments.”
"I am always transparent,” she added.
Supreme Court
On March 12, the State Bank of India, the authorised bank to issue the electoral bonds, shared details of the electoral bonds with the Election Commission following a directive from the Supreme Court.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has emerged the biggest gainer from the electoral bonds.
