‘VIP access to Infosys’ haunts Sunak
UK Trade Minister Dominic Johnson Minister allegedly said he would help Infosys grow in UK
London: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is facing a fresh conflict of interest row after a Conservative minister on a trade mission to India last April said he would be happy to help IT firm Infosys, owned by his wife’s family, grow in the UK. According to a Daily Mirror investigation, Trade Minister Dominic Johnson said he was “keen to see a bigger Infosys presence in the UK and would be happy to do what he could to facilitate that.”
The development comes as the Bengaluru-based firm founded by Akshata Murty’s father vies for contracts in the UK worth 750 million pounds and plans to increase its workforce in its second-biggest market by 20 per cent to 6,000. Calling the uncovered documents “damning”, the opposition Labour said the government had serious questions to answer about giving “VIP access” to a business so personally close to Sunak and Liberal Democrats demanded full transparency.
“This government seems intent on wrecking the public’s trust in politics. The public has a right to know what the Government is up to. We must have full transparency of all government dealings with a firm so closely linked to the Prime Minister,” Liberal Democrat Deputy leader Daisy Cooper told The Mirror.