Sunak under pressure over wife’s Russia-related ‘blood money’ dividends
The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is under mounting pressure over accusations that his wife, Akshata Murthy, is collecting “bloody money” in dividends from a family company that has refused to pull out of Russia, despite Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Labour and the Liberal Democrats are calling on Sunak to answer “very serious questions” over Murthy’s estimated $900m (£690m) stake in the IT services and consultancy company Infosys.
Infosys, which was founded by her billionaire father, NR Narayana Murthy, continues to operate in Russia while most big global IT and consultancy firms such as SAP, Oracle, PwC, McKinsey, Accenture and KPMG have all closed their Russian operations.
Sunak, who has repeatedly called on British companies to pull out of Russia in order to “inflict maximum economic pain” on Putin’s regime, refused to comment on his wife’s 0.91% stake in Infosys.
Asked by Sky News if his family was “potentially benefiting from Putin’s regime”, Sunak said: “I don’t think that’s the case. I am an elected politician and I am here to talk about what I am responsible for. My wife is not.”
A spokesperson for Sunak said neither Murthy nor any members of her family “have any involvement in the operational decisions of the company”. Murthy, who lives with Sunak and their two children at their townhouse in Kensington and Yorkshire manor house, has collected an estimated £11.5m in dividend payments from Infosys over the past year.
Lesia Vasylenko, a Ukrainian MP who has taken up arms to defend her country, said money paid out in dividends by any company operating in Russia should be viewed as “bloody money” that had “sponsor[ed] the army”.
Asked about Murthy’s holding in Infosys on LBC, Vasylenko said: “Any money that is put into the
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