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The UK’s Metropolis 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 transient.
The Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Fee has alleged that Siddiq tried to stress her aunt, the nation’s former chief Sheikh Hasina, to allocate plots of land in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone to Siddiq’s mom and two siblings.
Investigators have alleged that Sheikh Hasina whereas in workplace used senior officers at Dhaka’s improvement authority RAJUK to allocate roughly one acre of land to herself and her two youngsters within the capital’s Purbachal New City Mission.
“When she turned conscious . . . whereas serving as a Member of the British Parliament, Ms Tulip Siddiq is alleged to have used her particular affect and authority to stress and affect her aunt, Ms Sheikh Hasina, to rearrange related allocations in the identical venture, for her mom, Ms Rehana Siddique, her sister, Ms Azmina Siddique, and her brother, Mr Radwan Mujib Siddique,” the ACC mentioned in a report revealed on Monday setting out the allegations. The report alleged that Sheikh Rehana was allotted a plot in 2022.
The investigation is separate to an earlier probe into claims that Siddiq and several other different members of the family benefited from a $12bn Bangladesh authorities take care of Russia for a nuclear energy plant. The household have denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
Siddiq has been a Labour MP since 2015 and is an in depth ally of UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Final week, Siddiq referred herself to Sir Laurie Magnus, the federal government’s unbiased adviser on ministerial requirements.
“Tulip has self-reported to the unbiased adviser on ministerial requirements to independently set up the information on these issues,” a spokesperson for Siddiq mentioned on Tuesday. “She is obvious that she has carried out nothing improper.”
Downing Road on Tuesday mentioned Magnus would report again “shortly”.
Sheikh Rehana — Sheikh Hasina’s solely dwelling sibling and a key political determine within the ousted administration — Radwan Mujib Siddique and Azmina Siddique couldn’t be instantly reached for remark. Sheikh Hasina and her youngsters, Sajeeb Wazed and Saima Wazed, additionally couldn’t instantly be reached.
Sheikh Hasina’s regime was toppled final summer season following a student-led protest that was initially met with violent suppression by safety forces, resulting in the deaths of lots of of civilians.
The previous Bangladesh chief final month denied she had ordered safety forces to make use of deadly pressure towards protesters and claimed the allegations towards her had been “false propaganda”.
Her son Sajeeb Wazed final month dismissed the nuclear energy plant probe, telling Reuters it was “not potential to siphon off billions from a $10bn venture [the nuclear deal] . . . none of us have ever seen that type of cash”.
Siddiq has confronted calls from the UK’s opposition Conservative celebration to resign from her Treasury submit, whereas anti-corruption charities have mentioned that her present function is untenable.
The UK Anti-Corruption Coalition — which incorporates teams comparable to Oxfam, Transparency Worldwide and Highlight on Corruption — mentioned in a press release on Monday that Siddiq ought to hand over duties for countering financial crime, cash laundering and illicit finance to a different authorities minister.
Siddiq presently held a “critical battle of curiosity” on account of direct household ties to a deposed regime that could be investigated by UK authorities, the coalition mentioned.
“The UK has a historic duty to assist the brand new interim authorities of Bangladesh, to make sure a democratic transition, and to recuperate stolen belongings, not least as a result of a few of these belongings could also be hidden within the UK itself,” the coalition added.
Starmer’s spokesperson mentioned on Monday the prime minister retained “full confidence” in Siddiq.
