Infosys, the company founded by Rishi Sunak’s father-in-law and in which his wife Akshata Murthy has a substantial shareholding, has been found to have paid $16 million Synergy 360, a lobbying firm reportedly asked to send profits to a trust partly owned by former Australian government minister Stuart Robert. Under fire down under…

The allegation made to the Australian Parliament’s Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit (JCPAA) was that Robert also used his position to intervene in the distribution of government contracts, with the JCPAA now investigating potential “tainted contracts”. Speaking last week, Australian Minister Bill Shorten said:

“The initial report detailed how Mr Robert personally intervened in contracts worth $274m awarded to Indian software giant Infosys […] Flowing from these disturbing revelations, Services Australia and the NDIS investigated potentially tainted contracts linked to Synergy 360.”

Infosys say nothing untoward happened and they are no longer involved with Synergy 360. Robert himself says it’s “patently incorrect and outrageous” to suggest wrongdoing. Perhaps at the next Sunak-Murthy family dinner, Rishi will be able to offer some advice on how to deal with sleaze allegations…