British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is under investigation by the parliamentary watchdog for a possible failure to declare shares his wife, Akshata Murty, holds in a childcare agency that benefited from a recent budget, an official said Monday. Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Daniel Greenberg launched the probe on Thursday, focusing on Murty’s holdings in “Koru Kids.” The rules require members to be “open and frank” in declaring any relevant interest in any House proceeding or committee.
Sunak’s office said the prime minister is “happy to assist the commissioner to clarify how this has been transparently declared as a ministerial interest.” However, Sunak did not mention Murty’s shares in the firm during a recent committee hearing. In March, Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt announced a pilot scheme offering incentive payments to childminders, with the amount doubling if workers signed up through one of six agencies, including Koru Kids.
When Sunak took office in October, after the brief tenure of Liz Truss and the scandal‑ridden premiership of Boris Johnson, he pledged “integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level.” Since then, he has faced several controversies, including a police fine for not wearing a seatbelt and a breach of lockdown rules while serving as finance minister under Johnson.
Murty, the daughter of an Infosys co‑founder, has an estimated wealth of around $700 million. She previously attracted criticism for her “non‑dom” status, which allowed her to avoid declaring dividends from Infosys for UK tax purposes; she later said she would include them after the furore. Critics, including the main opposition Labour Party, argue that the privately wealthy Sunak—who worked in finance before entering politics—is out of touch with ordinary voters struggling with rising costs.
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