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LONDON, April 19 (PTI) – UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Register of Ministerial Interests was published by the UK Cabinet Office on Wednesday, revealing his wife Akshata Murty’s stake in a childcare facility which may have benefited from last month’s A policy in the budget.
The release of the list comes after Britain’s parliamentary standards commissioner launched a parliamentary watchdog inquiry last week to determine whether the British Indian leader was “openly and frankly” meeting his obligations under parliament’s “code of conduct” .
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Now, a full “Minister’s List of Interests” published online shows that Sunak referred to his wife’s interests and referred to it in a section entitled “Related Interests of Spouse or Close Family Member”.
“The Prime Minister’s wife is a venture capitalist. She owns a venture capital firm, Catamaran Ventures UK Limited, as well as some direct shareholdings,” the register reads.
As a footnote, it added: “As stated in the Prime Minister’s letter dated 4 April 2023 to the Chairman of the Liaison Committee, this includes the minority stake held by his wife in relation to the company Koru Kids.”
Downing Street insists Sunak, 42, complies with a ministerial code of conduct at all times and declares his wife’s interests to be those of the minister.
The release of the register comes after an 11-month gap since the last one was published, and comes after opposition parties’ demands for the government to be clean after a watchdog investigation exposed it.
Downing Street sources said the inquiry involved Murty’s interest in Koru Kids Ltd, which is likely to benefit from a new pilot scheme announced in last month’s Spring Budget to incentivize people to become nannies.
Murty, the daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, is listed on the UK Companies Register as a shareholder in Koru Kids, one of six UK babysitting agencies listed on a government website with contact details.
The Opposition pointed to this fact last month and demanded further explanation at a hearing of a liaison committee made up of chairmen of all Commons committees.
Labor MP Catherine McKinnell had asked Sunak if he was interested in making a statement on the new childcare policy.
“No, all my disclosures are announced in the normal way,” he responded at the time. The inquiry by the parliamentary watchdog is to determine whether there have been any breaches of the code, which can then be referred to MPs on the Standards Committee – the committee that decides on any sanctions.
“We are pleased to assist the Commissioner in clarifying how this was transparently declared a ministerial interest,” a Downing Street spokesman said earlier this week.
The UK Parliamentary Standards Commissioner is an independent official in the House of Commons who is tasked with looking at evidence if there are concerns about individual UK MPs breaking Code of Conduct rules.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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