British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is currently dealing with an economic crisis before the general elections, is in the news for a private jet he took last year that was apparently funded by an entrepreneur named Akhil Tripath who is also a minor Tory donor. British media was awash with headlines Thursday (Feb 29) about how Sunak attended two Conservative conferences in Wales and Scotland last year and took a private jet to travel there.
The private jet was funded by Tripathi, a report by the Financial Times on Thursday said. Tripathi is the co-founder of Signifier Medical Technologies, a start-up that deals in anti-snoring devices and is facing losses.
Questions are now being raised about how Tripathi gained access to Prime Minister Sunak and the due diligence done by the Conservative Party before accepting his money.
Following Sunak’s trip in April 2023, he sent a thank you note to Tripathi for arranging the flight. However, the private jet did not belong to Tripathi and was rented. So who is Akhil Tripathi?
Entrepreneur, minor Tony donor
Tripathi’s startup Signifier Medical Technologies focuses on the development and commercialisation of innovative and non-invasive solutions for patients with snoring and sleep-disordered breathing conditions. The company is hoping to sell its anti-snoring device to the National Health Service (NHS).
The Financial Times report said that Tripathi is a minor Tory donor. Months after he arranged the private jet for Prime Minister Sunak, Tripathi was embroiled in a civil fraud case involving his start-up.
He rented the Embraer Legacy 500 to Sunak, which the PM recorded as a $48,619 (around £38,500) gift. Sunak’s trips led to questions about the due diligence that he and the Conservative party did on Tripathi, the report added.
Tripathi made his first donation worth $63,142 to the Conservatives in July 2021. In total, he has given nearly $194,000 to the party.
Since developing a relationship with Sunak, Tripathi has been pursued in the courts by investors in his startup. As per the report, one investor said that Tripathi committed a “fraud” in relation to the company.
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Meanwhile, the entrepreneur has held meetings with several politicians, including former health secretary Sajid Javid and Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt.
Not much is known about Tripathi’s early background. As per Companies House, he is an Indian national born in 1985. He has been the co-founder of many other startups apart from Signifier.
At the time Tripathi arranged for the flight for Sunak, Signifier reported losses of $42.3 million on revenue of just $3.1 million for the year to March 31, 2022, the report said. But despite the losses, Tripathi lived a glamorous lifestyle.
‘How did Sunak end up on that plane?’
The Labour Party demanded that Sunak and the Conservative Party should give an account of how the prime minister ended up on that private jet. “They must explain on what basis Mr Tripathi gained access to the highest levels of government, and what checks were made on his background before he did so,” Emily Thornberry, Labour’s shadow attorney-general, told the publication.
Tripathi is currently facing two civil actions in the High Court of Justice in London. A Conservative party official said that on reflection, PM Sunak should have “maybe thought twice” before getting on the private jet arranged by the entrepreneur.
(With inputs from agencies)
