Rishi Sunak under fire for disclosing details of probe into wife's interest in firm

The troubles for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak do not seem to be coming to an end anytime soon. He now faces an extended investigation in connection with the case related to his wife's shares in a childcare agency.

The prime minister was already facing a probe for reportedly failing to declare the shares his wife, Akshata Murty, holds in an agency called Koru Kids.

It is being reported that the agency stands to benefit from new government policies announced in the March budget.

The parliamentary commissioner for standards, Daniel Greenberg, has now extended the probe to look into whether PM Sunak also breached paragraph 13 of the MPs' code of conduct. The rules demand that the MPs "must not disclose details" of any probe.

The watchdog initially launched a probe to find out whether Sunak had possibly failed to declare his wife's interest in the agency. It is being conducted under paragraph 6 of the rules which state that MPs need to be "open and frank" while declaring their interest.

The probe pertains to the announcement of pilot payments for new childminders in this year's budget. The policy offers cash incentives to childminders and sets aside more for those who go through agencies. Koru Kids is one of the six childcare agencies that have been listed on the government's website for this purpose.

According to MPs' code of conduct rules, MPs must "always be open and frank in declaring any relevant interest in any proceeding of the House or its committees and in any communications with ministers, members, public officials, or public office holders."

The prime minister was still being investigated for the matter when his office issued a statement addressing the issue. A Downing Street spokesperson said that the interest had been "transparently declared," adding that the prime minister would be "happy to assist the commissioner."

"We have been very clear that the prime minister has taken his obligation to declare everything very seriously, he has done that for a number of years," they added.

But the rules require that the "members (of parliament) must not disclose details in relation to: (i) any investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards except when required by law to do so, or authorised by the Commissioner; nor (ii) the proceedings of the Committee on Standards or the Independent Expert Panel in relation to a complaint unless required by law to do so, or authorised by the Committee or the Panel respectively."

Therefore, Commissioner Greenberg has extended his investigation to also examine if the PM violated these rules.

This is also not the first time that the uber-wealthy prime minister has become the centre of controversy for violating rules. Earlier in January, he was forced to issue an apology after a video of him not wearing a seatbelt in a moving car went viral on the internet.

A spokesman for the prime minister later said that the prime minister had accepted his mistake and apologised for it.

Recently, his wife Akshata Murty was slammed for jetting off on a luxury vacation when thousands of UK citizens are struggling due to the cost of living crisis. He also recently faced criticism for travelling in an RAF jet for official visits.

Sunak's wife is the daughter of one of the founders of Indian IT giant Infosys. She has a significant stake in her father's company. Her father Narayan Murty is one of the richest men in India. Sunak and his wife have a net worth of £730 million, according to Forbes.

They are one of the richest occupants of Downing Street. According to a report by the Economic Times, Akshata Murty is estimated to be richer than Queen Elizabeth II.