Whitehall Inquiry Launched Into Rishi Sunak's Wife Akshata Murthy's Non-Dom Leak

In response to mounting pressure, Murthy announced two days ago that she would pay taxes on her foreign earnings.

Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murthy. 

(File Photo)

A Whitehall leak inquiry has been initiated to investigate who leaked the details of Akshata Murthy's tax status to the media.

It was revealed earlier this week that she holds a non-domiciled status in her resident country, the United Kingdom, and pays £30,000 a year to maintain that status, which allows her to avoid paying up to £20 million in tax to the British government.

Akshata Murty is daughter of Narayana Murty, the founder of Infosys, and the wife of Rishi Sunak, who serves as the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the UK government.

The revelation, therefore, stirred up a controversy, given that the chancellor recently raised the tax burden for millions of British people.

Sunak reportedly demanded a Whitehall inquiry about the leak.

In response to mounting political pressure, Murty had announced two days ago that she would pay UK taxes on her foreign earnings after her "non-domiciled" status was revealed by the media.

To add to the drama, the Sunday Times newspaper reported on 9 April that Sunak considered resigning from the UK government over Murthy's non-dom status.

"He was considering whether he could withstand his family taking this any more," the newspaper quoted an anonymous source as saying.

You can read in detail here about what a non-domiciled status means, and why Murthy's non-dom status can ruin Sunak's political fortunes.

(With inputs from the Sunday Times)