Labour has called on Chancellor Rishi Sunak to explain whether a company in which his wife has a reported £400 million stake is continuing to operate in Russia.
Mr Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty, has a 0.93% stake in the business which was founded by her father, although he retired in 2014 and has had no further involvement.
A spokeswoman for Ms Murty said: “This is a matter for Infosys and should be addressed to them.
Labour demands explanation over Rishi Sunak’s wife’s £400m Infosys stake
Ian West
“Ms Murty is one of many minority shareholders and has no involvement in the operational decisions of the company.”
However Labour said there were still questions for Mr Sunak to answer if his family was benefitting from a company that remained active in Russia.
The Indian IT giant Infosys is still operating in Moscow, according to the Mirror, despite have having announced last month that it was shutting its office in the Russian capital.
Shadow Treasury Minister Tulip Siddiq said: “It is really important that the Chancellor clarifies what is happening here and whether his immediate family is benefitting from Infosys’ continued presence in Russia.
Shadow Treasury Minister Tulip Siddiq
House of Commons
“We can’t have a situation where a UK Chancellor and his family maintain economic interests in the Putin regime.”
In a statement, Infosys said: “As you are aware, during the quarterly results, Infosys announced its decision to transition services from Russia to its global delivery centres.
“While the company does not have any active relationships with local Russian enterprises, we have a small team of fewer than 100 employees in Russia, which services some of our global clients.
“We can’t have a situation where a UK Chancellor and his family maintain economic interests in the Putin regime.”
“We are currently working closely with those clients that are being impacted to enable a smooth transition.”
Last month Ms Murty, an Indian national, announced she would pay UK taxes on all her worldwide income after it was disclosed that she was non-domiciled in Britain for tax purposes.
The disclosure, along with the revelation that Mr Sunak retained a US green card while he was Chancellor, was widely seen to have damaged her husband’s hopes of succeeding Boris Johnson as Tory leader.
