Rishi Sunak resigns amid conservative party's historic defeat

On July 5, Rishi Sunak announced that he is resigning from the position of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. His wife is Indian businesswoman Akshata Murty, who possesses a fortune greater not only than her husband's but also King Charles III.

In October 2022, Rishi Sunak, along with his wife Akshata Murty, moved to one of the most famous streets in London. When the Conservative Party member took office as Prime Minister, nothing indicated that less than two years later, he would resign. The Prime Minister's resignation is a response to the worst defeat in the Conservative Party's history, which occurred in Thursday's elections to the House of Commons.

When the British politician of Indian descent moved to Downing Street, he attracted media attention. However, soon everyone began to wonder who his wife, Akshata Murty, is.

Akshata Murty did not remain in the shadow of her famous husband. She is a fashion designer and also the daughter of an Indian billionaire. At one point, the politician's wife was involved in a scandal concerning taxes in the United Kingdom. 

Akshata Murty and Rishi Sunak met at Stanford University. They got married in 2009, and a few years later, they had two daughters: Krishna and Anoushka. According to "The Sun," in 2022, the wealth of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom amounted to CAD 340 million. This is an impressive sum, but his wife's wealth, Akshata Murty, which amounted to CAD 850 million in the same year, arouses much greater interest.

Thus, Akshata is more than twice as rich as her husband and richer than King Charles III, whose wealth was estimated at just under CAD 850 million after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. According to "The Times," Akshata and Rishi own "at least four properties," including a house in the Kensington district of London worth CAD 12 million.

The 44-year-old runs the brand Akshata Designs, owns shares in Jamie Oliver's restaurants, Wendy's restaurant chain in India, and the Digme Fitness gym chain in London, of which she is a director. Moreover, since 2015, she has owned just under one percent of shares in Infosys, her father's technology company, headquartered in India. This small allotment, however, has been valued at CAD 1.2 billion.

In April 2022, Akshata Murty was at the centre of a tax scandal. It came to light that the Prime Minister's wife, being an Indian citizen and holding only an Indian passport, not only has non-dom status in the United Kingdom but also uses it to avoid paying taxes. Non-dom status describes a UK resident whose permanent home is outside the country – Ed.

Due to this status, Murty was exempt from paying British tax on income from foreign investments, tax on rental income from foreign properties, and bank interest. It is estimated that in this way, she "saved" as much as CAD 34 million over several years. When this information came to light, the 44-year-old millionaire did not give up her non-dom status but declared that she would pay taxes in the UK on all her income.