Sunak's wife Akshata Murty decides to liquidate investment venture in UK
London (PTI), British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's wife Akshata Murty has decided to liquidate her investment company Catamaran Ventures UK Ltd, according to official company filings with the UK's Companies House this week.
The 43-year-old businesswoman had incorporated the venture in 2013 with her husband as one of the directors, before he resigned in 2015.
According to the latest financial statement for the year ended December 2022 available for the company on Wednesday, Murty as the only director of the firm has now decided to wind down her firm as a going concern.
"During the year, the directors have decided to liquidate the Company," notes the Companies House filing statement.
"Accordingly, the financial statements have been prepared on a basis other than going concern and no adjustments were necessary in these financial statements to reduce assets to their realisable values or to provide for liabilities arising from that decision," it reads.
The value of the company's investments for the period was stated at just over GBP 3.8 million, up from just over GBP 3.5 million in 2021 and the funds becoming due to Murty amounted to just over GBP 4.6 million.
Catamaran Ventures UK Ltd has been operating as an investment vehicle for funds from her shares in Infosys, the Indian software giant co-founded by her father N.R. Narayana Murthy. However, the ventures it has invested in have not had the best run.
According to an analysis by The Times' newspaper, education start-up Mrs Wordsmith backed by Catamaran closed less than six months after receiving GBP 650,000 from the UK government's pandemic support scheme called Future Fund.
The New Craftsmen, a Catamaran-backed furniture company which closed in November 2022, also benefited from the fund. And, Digme Fitness, a boutique London fitness chain of which Murty was a director, failed in 2021.
Study Hall, an education technology business in which Catamaran has a stake, was given a government grant of GBP 349,976 via state body Innovate UK last year, prompting questions from the Opposition Labour Party benches.
Murty's investments outside Catamaran also came under the spotlight this year when it emerged she had shares in Koru Kids one of six childminder agencies in England that stood to benefit from a new Budget scheme announced by the Sunak-led government. It led to a declaration of interest inquiry by the UK parliamentary watchdog, which concluded last month that Sunak's failure to reference his wife's shares in Koru Kids arose out of "confusion and was accordingly inadvertent".
"I apologise for these inadvertent errors and confirm acceptance of your proposal for rectification," Sunak wrote in a letter to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Daniel Greenberg.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
