Rishi Sunak has denied his family is profiting from Vladimir Putin’s regime in an awkward exchange over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The British chancellor was asked about reports of “family links” to Russia, which has been hit by sanctions over the war being waged in eastern Europe.
Mr Sunak called these sanctions “of unprecedented scale and scope” in the House of Commons on Wednesday. He previously told businesses to “think carefully” about making any investments in the country that would benefit Mr Putin’s regime as UK firms scrambled to cut ties.
The chancellor was quizzed on Thursday about reports of his wife’s stake in Infosys - a Indian IT company founded by her billionaire entrepreneur father - and claims the firm operates in Moscow and has links to a large Russian bank.
“Are you giving advice to others that you are not following in your own home?” he was asked on Sky News.
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Mr Sunak replied: “I’m an elected politician and I’m here to talk to you about what I’m responsible for. My wife is not.”
He also brushed off the Sky News presenter saying it appeared his family could potentially be “benefitting from Putin’s regime”.
“I don’t think that is the case. As I said, the operations of all companies are up to them,” the chancellor said.
“We have put in place significant sanctions and all the companies that we are responsible for are following those - as they rightly should - sending a very strong message to Putin’s aggression.”
When asked whether Infosys - which has four offices in the UK - was, Mr Sunak said: “I have absolutely no idea because I have nothing to do with that company.”
It has been reported the UK chancellor’s wife has a stake in the company worth hundreds of millions of pounds.