A multinational tech firm founded by Rishi Sunak’s father-in-law received a near 50 per cent increase in public sector invoices last year, LBC has revealed.
Infosys, which Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty still holds shares in, received £7 million in public sector invoices last year up from £4.7 million in 2022.
Sunak became prime minister on 25th October 2022.
Procurement information analysed by data provider Tussell shows the firm received over a quarter of a million pounds from the Government Property Agency (GPA), while a similar amount was received from the Care Quality Commission.
Infosys was also given contracts for “Information Communication Technology” (£1.5 million), “Consultant fees” (£1.1 million) as well as “IT Consultancy” (£868,000) across various levels of government.
Frameworks
In addition to these regular contract wins, the India-based company has also won spots on a number of frameworks in recent years.
Whilst this offers no guarantee of work, it can “give the company an edge in winning contracts in the future” according to Tussell.
Towards the end of 2023, Infosys was one of 28 companies that won a place on the NHS Shared Business Services’ £250 million ‘Intelligence Automation’ Framework, whilst it was also one of 62 companies which won a place on the Financial Conduct Authority’s £563 million ‘Digital Services Framework Agreement’.
The government has also published contracts worth a total of £44 million to the company in 2022, meaning this trend of earnings is set to continue.
One contract published in 2022 was a £7.45 million Infrastructure Testing project with the Home Office, whilst others showed Infosys had contracts over £5.5 million.
“Serious questions answered”
In response, Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth told LBC “taxpayers will want to have serious questions answered as to how this firm, with its close links to Rishi Sunak directly, appears to be cashing in”.
“It’s high time we had a full explanation as to all the circumstances as to how this firm has been awarded these lucrative contracts. This is about taxpayers money”
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