RICHER THAN THE QUEEN: CHANCELLOR RISHI ‘FAILED TO DECLARE FAMILY’S LARGE WEALTH IN MINISTERS’ REGISTER’

Sat 28 November 2020:

Akshata Murty, wife of Chancellor Sunak, her father is co-founder of technology giant Infosys, and her shares in the company are worth £430 million, making her one of the wealthiest women in Britain, with a fortune larger than the Queen’s

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has failed to declare his family’s wealth in a ministerial register, an investigation has found.

Sunak is under pressure to explain how a multi-million-pound portfolio of shareholdings and directorships held by his wife and her family were not declared in an official register of ministers’ interests, a Guardian investigation has revealed.

Akshata Murty, who married Sunak in 2009, is the daughter of one of India’s most successful entrepreneurs. Her father co-founded the technology giant Infosys, and her shares in the company are worth £430 million, making her one of the wealthiest women in Britain, with a fortune larger than the Queen’s.

Minister’s are bound by the ministerial code to declare the financial interests of close family members, including spouses and in-laws, which might present a conflict of interest.

Sunak’s entry of his wife’s interests makes no mention of her family’s fortunes but rather, only references her ownership of a small, UK-based venture capital company.

The Guardian found that, Murthy and her family have several other interests including £1.7bn in Infosys, which has held government and public contracts.

They also list a shareholding by Murthy in a firm which runs restaurants in India and five other firms where she is a director or direct shareholder.

The former chair of the standards in public life committee, Sir Alistair Graham, said it is vital for Sunak for declare the interest.

Sir Alistair Graham, a former chair of the Commons committee on ministerial standards, urged Sunak to declare his wife’s interests given “the chancellor’s capacity to determine the government’s financial and business policies”.

He said: “He seems to have taken the most minimalist approach possible to this requirement. Perhaps Rishi Sunak should carefully read the ‘Seven principles of Public Life’ to make sure he is fulfilling the two principles of ‘Honesty and Leadership’”.

Sunak and Murty have not responded directly to requests for comment.

The Treasury told the newspaper that all proper procedures for declaring interests were followed, and it was civil servants and independent advisers who decide what to declare rather than ministers themselves.

A spokesperson for the department added that Boris Johnson’s independent adviser on ministerial interests was “completely satisfied with the Chancellor’s propriety of arrangements”, adding Sunak has “followed the ministerial code to the letter”.

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