To think Sunak should resign over his wife's business links to Russia

[Ihatethedawnchorus]

Apparently she's received over £12 million pounds in dividends from her investment in Infosys which is still doing business in Russia, surely this is a conflict of interest?

It's just the tip of a very large iceberg.

The Indian company her dad founded (and sold nearly a decade ago) that does a small amount of business with individuals in Russia rather than Russian businesses, as it does in 50 other countries across the globe and who have publicly denounced the war against Ukraine? No not really, unless you have proof he spearheaded the list of sanctions specifically to ensure they wouldn't be affected and so it affected this countries response to the situation.

Unless you think she should have surrendered the dividends and given away her shares because of a tiny tiny fraction of the business activity- in which case I don't know anyone who would do that personally, even decent people.

It doesn’t look good, does it?

I’d have thought the days of having multi millionaires as Chancellors of the Exchequer were over anyway, even without the Russian financial links.

It looks so bad to have a filthy rich bloke hand out minuscule tax concessions to a struggling nation.

Nice to see ethnic minorities in cabinet, of course - and senior cabinet roles at that - but it’s not like there is a shortage of talented, non-wealthy politicos from minority backgrounds.

The dividends were paid over the last year, not since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Infosys is still operating in Moscow. It is not in and of itself a Russian enterprise.

I think Infosys should leave Russia but I don't think this is any more noteworthy than someone having a lot of shares in say M&S, which if I recall correctly either came out of Russia very late or is still trading there?

And I believe she has less than a 1% holding in this non-Russian company which is still trading in Moscow.

I'd hardly frame that as some personal dodgy business links.

No, sorry. I don't think now is the time to put in a new chancellor who will take X long to learn the ropes. The pp above explained in well informed detail that its not a simple 'Russia = evil' and that his wife's business interests are not untypical. There might be many legit reasons to see him step down, but this is not it.

I used to work for a private financial services firm. We had to declare not just our own investments but also those of anyone in our household for conflict of interest considerations. If there were any then we could be required to divest them. We were allowed things like trackers that happened to hold these shares if we had no control over them. I’m surprised senior government doesn’t have similar rules given that our rules were imposed by the government regulators.

No ridiculous. She doesn't have a crystal ball and didn't see this war coming. Also implies he is in charge of his wife and everything she does. How misogynistic.

I know it's not the point but it forever will be galling how the press hounded Corbyn for owning a house in Islington yet the Chancellor is literally a billionaire who couldn't work out how to use his card to pay for petrol.

Ridiculous.

No.

@DelurkingAJ

I used to work for a private financial services firm. We had to declare not just our own investments but also those of anyone in our household for conflict of interest considerations. If there were any then we could be required to divest them. We were allowed things like trackers that happened to hold these shares if we had no control over them. I’m surprised senior government doesn’t have similar rules given that our rules were imposed by the government regulators.

Quite.

The optics look very bad

I've always despised the politics and policies of our chancellor. They are vile and even the right-wing media is showing signs of nervousness about them.

The Russian millions (possibly billions) is the bloody cherry on top.

I've got shares in M&S but I'm not turning down the dividends because they're still operating in Russia.

I'm not a fan of this government and didn't vote for them, but this seems like a ridiculous and tenuous link to me, being leapt on by people who don't understand how investment works, are jealous of the sums involved or would seize on anything that they thought would potentially discredit a Tory mp.

They do lots of things wrong, focus on those.

@Shehasadiamondinthesky

No ridiculous. She doesn't have a crystal ball and didn't see this war coming. Also implies he is in charge of his wife and everything she does. How misogynistic.

But you could also argue it's the opposite.

As @DelurkingAJ says, many of us have had to declare not just our own investments but also those of anyone in our household for conflict of interest considerations one of the reasons being that a husband might benefit from the money of his wife just as much as a wife might benefit from the money of her husband.

It is perceived that the money flows both ways within a marriage. The power and advantage of the money can lie with the wife as much as the husband.

Many employers are also interested in the financial affairs of other family members and will also expect these to be declared, for ethical and legal examination. The declaration aspect is crucial. People shouldn't wait to be caught of by the newspapers.

Yes we do @SpinningTheSeedsOfLove, I have to declare my own investments in my job.

But Infosys is not a Russian company, it is not managed or controlled in Russia, it is not owned by Russian nationals (as far as I can tell it is owned and controlled from India), it does not operate solely in Russia.

It has a branch in Moscow, along with many other countries. This is fairly standard for big multinationals.

It would be right of it to pull out of Moscow, I agree.

But it's no more dodgy than other large multinational companies. M&S, as I and other posters have pointed out, has also misstepped on this issue. But that doesn't mean all M&S shareholders can now be said to have dodgy Russian business links.

I'm no fan of the Tories or Sunak, but I think this is a major reach.

I can't believe I'm reading this - in what century is a husband responsible for what a wife does with her finances? Not this one! During the 80s women fought really hard to get independence of finance and taxation from HMRC. Are you suggesting OP that we should go back to the Victorian era where husbands controlled their wife's money. No, I thought not.

He bleated for a long time 'encouraging' companies to pull out of any dealings with Russia. It's the hypocrisy that gets me. Even a bit of virtue signalling on his/his wife's part of cutting ties/donating the dividends to Ukraine would have been better than the squirming and refusal to answer questions I saw on Sky News this week.

After Johnson hosting to wind down seemingly following each new lockdown announcement?
seems to be a small part of the portfolio of the chancellor's wife, not the chancellor, and minor element of trade for co trading in russia, not russian owned or controlled, so no.

@oldestmumaintheworld

I can't believe I'm reading this - in what century is a husband responsible for what a wife does with her finances? Not this one! During the 80s women fought really hard to get independence of finance and taxation from HMRC. Are you suggesting OP that we should go back to the Victorian era where husbands controlled their wife's money. No, I thought not.

No, it's fair that the finances of the marriage are considered when looking at an individual's interests.

Marriage means you are legally joined to the other person and all your assets are considered jointly. There are no capital gains or inheritance tax considerations on transfers between spouses.

I can't believe someone actually thinks this is a feminism and WR issue Honestly wow.

@TibetanTerrah

He bleated for a long time 'encouraging' companies to pull out of any dealings with Russia. It's the hypocrisy that gets me. Even a bit of virtue signalling on his/his wife's part of cutting ties/donating the dividends to Ukraine would have been better than the squirming and refusal to answer questions I saw on Sky News this week.

But the company doesn't have any dealings with Russia, it has a tiny tiny presence in Moswcow where it works with some individuals. It's not tied up with the Russian state or questionable funding arrangements. Personally i wouldn't hand back shares my father had given me or give back millions of pounds just to virtue signal. Also he probably did have to declare any financial interests etc he has, but this one doesn't seem to be a COI so...?

Marriage does NOT mean all assets are held jointly. That has not been the case for well over 100 years. Marriage means that IF there is a divorce, all assets and liabilities of both parties will be considered in arriving at a fair settlement.
Up until divorce, assets in one spouse's sole name (possibly excepting the house) are solely the property of that spouse. Only assets held in joint names are joint. (again, with the possible exception of the house)