UK PM Sunak faces questions over wife Akshata's Infosys shares in FTA with India: Report
Rishi Sunak could face some transparency questions related to wife Akshata Murty's Infosys shares, worth an estimated 500 million pounds, in a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with India, according to a media report. 'The Observer' claims the Opposition Labour Party and trade experts are questioning the full financial impact as Infosys, the Bengaluru-headquartered software service major co-founded by Akshata's father Narayana Murthy, stands to benefit from any such trade deal.
India and the UK have been negotiating an FTA, now in its 12th round of negotiations, as Sunak prepares for his first visit to India as British Prime Minister for the G20 Leaders' Summit next month.
«As the Prime Minister recently learned, it's important he declares any interests properly.
I expect him to do so in respect of the India trade deal too,» said Darren Jones, Labour MP and chair of the cross-party House of Commons Business and Trade Select Committee — which has been scrutinising the FTA talks.
Earlier this week, the UK parliamentary watchdog released its report into an inquiry concluding that Sunak had inadvertently failed to correctly declare his wife's shares in childminding firm Koru Kids that stood to benefit from the government's budget policy. The 43-year-old British Indian leader apologised for the «inadvertent» breach that arose «out of confusion», and the matter was closed.
According to the 'Observer' report, Infosys — which has had contracts with the British government as well as many UK companies — is known to want to improve access to the UK for its thousands of contract workers through changes to the visa regime.
