British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is being investigated by a parliamentary body to determine whether he failed to declare his wife’s stake in a company favored by recent budget changes, his handler said on Monday.
Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Daniel Greenberg on Thursday launched an investigation into Akshada Murthy’s stake in childcare firm Koru Kids, his office said.
Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt announced a pilot scheme in March to pay incentives to childminders, which would be doubled if workers applied through a list of six agencies, which included Koru Kids.
During a recent speech before a parliamentary committee, Sunak did not mention that his wife owns these shares.
When he came to power in October after the short-lived reign of Liz Truss and the scandal-ridden tenure of Boris Johnson, Sunak promised “integrity, professionalism and accountability at all levels”.
Police fined Johnson for not wearing a seatbelt in a car and breaching confidentiality rules while he was finance minister.
Murthy is the daughter of the co-founder of the Indian computer giant Infosys, and her net worth is estimated at around US$700 million (R$3.4 billion).
Sunak had already come under fire when it was revealed that his wife had “non-resident” status in the UK and had failed to declare his Infosys dividend profits for UK tax purposes.
