Eight months after announcing its withdrawal, the Indian IT services provider Infosys, from whom the prime minister’s wife receives annual dividends of £11.5 million, is still functioning out in Russia.
Although a spokeswoman said they were trying to cease that arrangement, the company still maintains a staffed office. In addition, it pays subcontractors in the Russian capital to do IT services for a global client.
The millionaire founder of Infosys, NR Narayana Murthy, is the father of Rishi Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty. She owns a £690 million, 0.91% interest in the business, which pays her annual dividends in the millions of pounds.
After moving into Downing Street last month, Murty and Sunak are under increased pressure to reconsider their business connections to Infosys. In response to criticism over her “non-dom” tax status, which had allowed her to escape obligation in Britain. Murty decided to pay tax on her Infosys dividends in the UK and India earlier this year.
A source close to Murty said on Friday night that she had no operational responsibilities for the company and that her investment even was a legacy from her father.
A Ukrainian politician had claimed that the then chancellor’s family was receiving “blood money” through its Moscow branch, which prompted Infosys to announce in March that it was leaving Russia.
Additionally, the Sunaks had come under intense pressure from Labour and the Liberal Democrats to reveal whether they were receiving financial support from Russia at a time when Vladimir Putin’s forces were at war in Ukraine.
Infosys still has an office in Moscow
According to company sources, the corporation reportedly sought to close its office “urgently” in April. However, Infosys’s Moscow office still has a business plaque on an exterior wall seven months after that statement of intent, and company sources verified that administrative personnel continued to work there during a changeover.
According to the sources, the surviving employees were responsible for removing the IT equipment before a transfer to India or disposing of it in a “sustainable” manner.
According to a spokeswoman, the most recent staff to leave in recent weeks were those who worked directly with clients.
However, they added that Infosys was paying two Moscow-based subcontractors to operate on its behalf for a client, which brought up new concerns about how quickly the company is pulling itself out of trouble.
Angela Rayner, the deputy leader of Labour, criticized the company’s continued presence in Moscow and said Sunak had “failed to get his own house in order” while preaching to others.
Angela said, “It’s utterly scandalous that six months after Infosys said it would urgently pull out of Russia, the Sunak family could benefit from Moscow-based operations.”
Most of the top international IT and consulting companies, including SAP, Oracle, PwC, McKinsey, Accenture, and KPMG, shut down their operations in Russia shortly after the invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
The western economic sanctions made it unfeasible for many major corporations to continue, but the Indian government has been less transparent in its position.
