Rishi Sunak’s wife reportedly received around £12 million in dividends in the past year from a business under fire for keeping its Russian office open, despite the devastating war in Ukraine.
Akshata Murthy owns 39 million shares in Infosys, the Indian technology company founded by her billionaire father.
Her stake is worth about £727 million – an increase of more than £200 million compared to a year ago due to a spike in the share price.
In the same period, Infosys made two dividend payments that would have netted a further £11.6 million before tax, according to The Daily Telegraph.
It comes as Lesia Vasylenko, a Ukrainian MP, warned on Friday that companies like Infosys that continue doing business in Russia were helping to “fund bullets that are killing children and civilians”.
She also urged investors to dump holdings in these companies. “Investors give their money so that businesses can develop but I doubt that any investor signed up to giving money to companies that are indirectly or directly contributing to the war in Ukraine,” she said.
“So it’s also a choice for investors to make. I am sure many of them are reputable, well-connected people and for them to then come out publicly and call for human rights to be respected and so forth would be blatant hypocrisy.
“Every time investors give money to companies that do business in Russia they are giving up their right to speak up about democratic values that Russia is now destroying and trampling over with the war in Ukraine.”
Infosys has been heavily criticised for maintaining its Moscow office after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Murthy’s father, Narayana Murthy, founded the company in 1981 and retains a 0.4 per cent shareholding since leaving in 2014.
Mr Murthy, 75, has a $4.5 billion (£3.4 billion) fortune, according to Forbes.
Infosys has claimed it “supports and advocates for peace between Russia and Ukraine”.
The company added: “We do not have any active business relationships with local Russian enterprises.
“The company has committed $1m towards relief efforts for the victims of war from Ukraine.”
Related: Pulling back? Russia says war in Ukraine is entering ‘new phase’
