Akshata Murty, wife of British finance minister Rishi Sunak, rejects charges of tax evasion

After reports of her non-domicile status and alleged tax evasion, Akshata Murthy, the wife of British finance minister Rishi Sunak, claimed that she has been paying all taxes. Her spokesperson said that Akshata Murthy "has always and will continue to pay UK taxes on all her UK income".

London: After reports of her non-domicile status and alleged tax evasion, Akshata Murthy, the wife of British finance minister Rishi Sunak, claimed that she has been paying all taxes. Her spokesperson said that Akshata Murthy "has always and will continue to pay UK taxes on all her UK income". The clarification came amid reports that Akshata Murty holds a non-domicile status and has evaded paying taxes on her UK income as recently as April 2020, when her husband was already Chancellor of the Exchequer, reported SKY News.

Indian-born Murty is the daughter of Narayana Murthy, the billionaire co-founder of tech giant Infosys and has a 0.9 per cent stake in the company worth hundreds of millions of pounds according to its latest annual report. Her spokeswoman said: "Akshata Murty is a citizen of India, the country of her birth and parent's home". She also stated that India does not allow its citizens to hold the citizenship of another country simultaneously. "So, according to British law, Ms Murty is treated as non-domiciled for UK tax purposes. She has always and will continue to pay UK taxes on all her UK income," clarified the spokeswoman.

The revelations have also taken a political turn as the UK opposition party is asking the Chancellor to clear the air amid intensified allegations against his wife. The opposition Labour Party in the UK asked Sunak to explain the allegation of tax evasion. Labour's shadow economic secretary to the Treasury, Tulip Siddiq, said, "Rishi Sunak must now urgently explain how much he and his family have saved on their own tax bill while he at the same time was adding on to tax burdens of millions of working families, reported the news channel. The Liberal Democrats added that the Chancellor "needs to come clean about which country his family pays tax in abroad and if it is a tax haven". According to a poll, the Chancellor's popularity had plunged taking his popularity below that of Sir Keir (Labour Party Leader) for the first time.

ANI