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by Kirsteen Paterson
11 April 2022
Rishi Sunak asks for ethics chief to check his finances for 'clarity' in non-dom row

Credit: Guy Bell/Alamy Live News

Rishi Sunak asks for ethics chief to check his finances for 'clarity' in non-dom row

The Chancellor also held a US residency permit

The row over Rishi Sunak's financial affairs continues into a second week after the Chancellor asked the Prime Minister for an investigation in a bid to provide "clarity".

Sunak has asked Boris Johnson to refer him to Lord Geidt, the independent advisor on ministers' interests, amidst continued focus on his family's tax arrangements.

The Chancellor says he is confident the probe will prove he followed the rules.

His wife Akshata Murty had registered as a non-domicile, meaning she was not required to pay tax in the UK on money earned elsewhere, a move estimated by the BBC to have saved her around £2 million per year.

She has now said she will pay this tax, stating that she does not want her tax status "to be a distraction" for Sunak.

He says he has "always followed the rules" and is "confident" that a review of his declarations will "find all relevant information was appropriately declared".

Meanwhile, it has also emerged that Sunak held a green card for US residency even after entering Number 11 Downing Street. This has no longer valid.

This morning environment secretary George Eustice told Sky News he would never seek a green card or non-dom status. 

He told the broadcaster of his colleague: "He had a US green card, I'm not an expert on that. I've never had one myself nor would I ever seek to have one, to be honest.

"He's now referred himself to the adviser on standards of ministerial interests.

"Lord Geidt will look at all of this and will make an assessment about whether he declared all the right things at the right time."

Eustice stated: "I'm not the accountant for my ministerial colleagues in Cabinet. I don't know of anybody who may or may not have had non-dom status. 

"I can tell you that I would never have and never seek to have one."

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