Mrs Brown's Boys star Brendan O'Carroll has spoken out in defence of his daughter, who has been caught up in the Paradise Papers scandal. The documents alleged that Fiona Delany (who stars in the show as Maria), her husband Martin (Trevor) and co-star Patrick Houlihan (Dermot) diverted more than £2m into an offshore tax-avoidance scheme. But Brendan has now spoken out to insist that neither he, nor the three cast members, have done anything wrong, and criticised the BBC for "ambushing" his daughter in their Panorama special. "Fiona was in tears," he told the Irish Sun. "I spent the whole day comforting her.
© Photo: AlamyMrs Brown's Boys star Fiona Delany has been caught up in the Paradise Papers scandal
"She is not an oligarch laundering money through Greek banks, nor does she deal in the arms trade, deal drugs or traffic people. She has never committed a crime in her life. She doesn't have a private yacht or own a collection of luxury cars. She drives a Kia people carrier, which is necessary if you have four toddlers."
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The Panorama report stated that Patrick, Fiona and Martin had their fees from the show moved into Mauritius firms. The cash was then sent back as loans, which are not subject to income tax. But Brendan insisted: "No-one involved with Mrs Brown's Boys has done anything illegal. Everybody that featured in that show did what they did for completely different reasons. Paddy and Fiona wanted to regularise their income over a period of time so they could pay tax over a longer period of time. What's really important is that nothing they did was illegal. In the case of Fiona, Paddy and Marty, not one penny of their BBC money went into that fund."
© Photo: RexBrendan O'Carroll has come to his daughter's defense
A spokesperson for BBC News said: "This investigation shows there is clearly a public interest in the information being reported. It has been conducted in a fair and impartial way by our award-winning current affairs programme Panorama and BBC News journalists. A thorough and fair right of reply procedure was followed. We're satisfied that we've acted fairly and followed our editorial guidelines."
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