Calls grow for sacking of British minister linked to former Bangladesh leader

Calls are growing for Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer to sack his anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq over properties she allegedly received through her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, the ousted Bangladesh leader.

The predominantly Muslim country’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus said that Ms Siddiq and her family should return homes if they were bought after “plain robbery” by the former government.

He wants the London properties to be part of an inquiry into alleged fraud by members of the previous Bangladesh government overthrown last summer.

Mr Yunus, a Nobel peace prize-winning economist, has also urged Ms Siddiq to apologise for the actions of her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, who is accused of widespread corruption and humanitarian crimes.

Ms Siddiq, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury and a friend of Mr Starmer, referred herself to investigation by the prime minister’s adviser on ethics last week. She also claims that she is a victim of trumped-up allegations.

But speaking from the capital Dhaka, Mr Yunus told The Sunday Times that if a British politician was caught-up in wrongdoing it was “a big deal”.

“If a UK parliament member is involved, definitely it’s a big issue … we got used to [Ms Hasina’s] taking away everything.”

The newspaper’s investigation also discovered that Ms Siddiq spent years living in a north London property purchased by an offshore company named in the leaked Panama Papers and connected to two Bangladeshi businessmen.

Ms Siddiq strongly denies benefitting from the purchase which is now being investigated by Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

An official report has disclosed that the elite around Ms Hasina removed billions of dollars from Bangladesh using some of the cash to purchase London properties.

Britain’s National Crime Agency, the equivalent to the FBI, has sent investigators to Bangladesh and could seek to freeze assets in the UK.

In reference to the properties used by members of Ms Hasina’s family in London, Mr Yunus said: “Absolutely, it’s about plain robbery. Nothing else.”

While the leader said it was not his place to call for Ms Siddiq’s resignation, Britain’s Conservative party opposition leader Kemi Badenoch said that a diplomatic crisis could develop if she was not removed. “The prime minister’s weak leadership on Siddiq suggests he is not as bothered by integrity as he claims,” she added.

It had also been reported that the politician took free hospitality during the 2019 cricket world cup from a person closely linked to her aunt.

In her register of MP’s interests, Ms Siddiq, 42, watched Bangladesh play New Zealand and Pakistan with her box tickets costing £358.80 ($445), including lunch.

Ms Siddiq’s ministerial post has come under further pressure after Bangladesh’s Financial Intelligence Unit demanded that banks provide them details of all transactions of accounts linked to her.

While Mr Starmer has said that he would await the findings of his ethics adviser it is understood that Downing Street is considering a replacement for Ms Siddiq, whose responsibilities include “countering economic crime, money laundering and illicit finance”.

Ms Hasina, who served a total of 20 years as Bangladesh’s prime minister, is currently in India after she fled the country in August last year following mass riots over police killings of civilians.