City minister Tulip Siddiq named in the second corruption investigation in Bangladesh

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UK City minister Tulip Siddiq has been named in a second probe by authorities in Bangladesh as she battles calls from charities to resign her anti-corruption charge.

The Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Commission alleged that Siddiq tried to pressure his aunt, the country’s former leader Sheikh Hasina, to allocate land in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone to Siddiq’s mother and two brothers.

Investigators alleged that Sheikh Hasina, while in office, used senior officials of the Dhaka RAJUK development authority to allocate about an acre of land for her and her two children in the capital’s Purbachal New Town Project .

“When she became aware . . . While serving as a Member of the British Parliament, Ms. Tulip Siddiq is alleged to have used her influence and special authority to pressure and influence her aunt, Ms. Sheikh Hasina, to arrange similar allocations in the same project, for his mother, Ms. Rehana Siddique, his sister, Ms. Azmina Siddique, and his brother, Mr. Radwan Mujib Siddique. said the ACC in a report published on Monday exposing the allegations. The report stated that Sheikh Rehana has been allotted a plot in 2022.

The survey is separated by a first probe in claims that Siddiq and several other family members benefited from a $12 billion Bangladeshi government deal with Russia for a nuclear power plant. The family has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.

Siddiq has been a Labor MP since 2015 and is a close ally of British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Last week, Siddiq referred to Sir Laurie Magnus, the government’s independent adviser on ministerial standards.

“Tulip has self-reported to the independent adviser on ministerial standards to independently establish the facts on these matters,” a spokesman for Siddiq said on Tuesday. “It’s clear he didn’t do anything wrong.”

Downing Street said on Tuesday that Magnus would make a “short” report.

Sheikh Rehana – Sheikh Hasina’s only living sibling and a key political figure in the ousted administration – Radwan Mujib Siddique and Azmina Siddique could not immediately be reached for comment. Sheikh Hasina and her children, Sajeeb Wazed and Saima Wazed, could not be immediately reached.

Sheikh Hasina’s regime was fall last summer following a student-led protest that was initially met with violent suppression by security forces, leading to the deaths of hundreds of civilians.

The former Bangladeshi leader last month denied that she had ordered security forces to use lethal force against protesters and said the allegations against her were “false propaganda”.

His son, Sajeeb Wazed, last month rejected the nuclear plant probe, telling Reuters that “it was not possible to remove billions from a $10 billion project (the nuclear deal). . . . We have never seen this kind of money.”

Siddiq has faced calls from the UK’s opposition Conservative Party to resign from his Treasury post, while anti-corruption charities have said his current role is untenable.

The UK Anti-Corruption Coalition – which includes groups such as Oxfam, Transparency International and Spotlight on Corruption – said in a statement on Monday that Siddiq should hand over responsibilities for fighting economic crime, money laundering and illicit finances to another government minister.

Siddiq currently has a “serious conflict of interest” due to direct family ties to a deposed regime that may be investigated by British authorities, the coalition said.

“The UK has a historic responsibility to support the new interim government of Bangladesh, to ensure a democratic transition, and to recover stolen assets, not least because some of those assets may be hidden in the UK itself,” he added. the coalition.

Starmer’s spokesman said on Monday that the prime minister retained “full confidence” in Siddiq.