British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has pledged to demonstrate integrity and transparency, is under parliamentary investigation into possible shortcomings in his declaration of interests, the committee in charge of the control of deputies.
The investigation was officially opened last Thursday and the committee wants to verify whether the Prime Minister, often attacked for his fortune, declared in an “open and frank” manner possible interests, as stipulated in the code of conduct for parliamentarians.
According to British media, the commission is particularly interested in the shares of a childcare company owned by the wife of Rishi Sunak, Akshata Murthy, a wealthy heiress of an Indian entrepreneur. However, this company is likely to benefit from the massive new aid for childcare announced by the government in its latest budget in mid-March.
“We are happy to help (the committee) clarify that this has been transparently stated in the Prime Minister’s ministerial declaration of interest”, rather than in his parliamentary declaration of interest, Downing Street reacted. Already last year, Rishi Sunak found himself at the heart of a controversy when he was Minister of Finance, after the revelation by the press that his wife, of Indian nationality, benefited from an advantageous tax status.
He had been exonerated from any violation of the ministerial code, but his wife had announced shortly after that she renounced this status, which allowed him to avoid paying taxes to the British tax authorities on his income received abroad.
The Prime Minister is one of the wealthiest members of Parliament thanks to his background in finance, and his fortune has often been targeted by the Labor opposition, which criticizes him for being out of touch with the problems of the British in the midst of the cost crisis of life. Tax notices, which he published last month in a bid to be transparent, showed he had paid over £1million in tax over the past three years .
