Britain's finance minister asks for clarity about his personal fortune

Britain's finance minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, has written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson requesting an investigation into his own financial affairs after days of criticism over lack of transparency.

In a letter, Sunak has asked to be referred to the independent adviser on ministers' interests, Lord Geidt, following media scrutiny that also revealed his billionaire wife's controversial tax status.

The chancellor's wife, Akshata Murty, who has Indian citizenship, was discovered to be registered non-domicile in the United Kingdom, meaning she may be spared paying millions in taxes.

Following the disclosure, on Friday, Murty, who has a 690 million pound ($900 million) stake in Indian company Infosys that has UK government contracts, announced that she would pay British taxes on her worldwide income.

In a social media post on Sunday, where he shared his letter to the prime minister, Sunak said he had "always followed the rules "and that he hoped the review would "provide further clarity".

In his letter, Sunak said: "My overriding concern is that the public retain confidence in the answers they are given and I believe the best way of achieving this is to ensure those answers are entirely independent, without bias or favour. To that end I would recommend that Lord Geidt makes all his conclusions public.

"I am confident that such a review of my declarations will find all relevant information was appropriately declared. I have throughout my ministerial career followed the advice of officials regarding matters of propriety and disclosure and will continue to do so."

Last week's revelations were a fresh blow to Sunak, whose approval ratings were already sinking after critics said he did not offer enough support to the public over the cost of living crisis in his spring statement, said ITV News.

Commentators say the chancellor aspires to be prime minister, and one of Sunak's allies told the Daily Telegraph newspaper his rivals for the top job were seeking to "damage the person who is one of the main contenders". "I see envy and thinly veiled racism around some of this," the source said.

A separate inquiry instigated by Sunak and backed by the Cabinet Office, will seek to find the culprit who disclosed his wife's "nondom" status by leaking details to the Independent news website.

"The inquiry will be carried out with a view to potential criminal prosecutions because it is against the law to leak someone's tax status," a source told the Telegraph.

Senior Conservatives have been critical of the chancellor's move to initiate an inquiry into the leak and said it was bad timing ahead of local elections in May.

A former Cabinet minister told the Telegraph "the surprising thing is that he didn't regularize this before he became a minister or went into the Treasury. It is a sign of his inexperience".