Tulip Siddiq investigation must find out if money was ‘looted from a third world country,’ says Bangladeshi politician

13 January 2025, 17:04

Labour must conduct a “thorough investigation” to determine if under-fire anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq profited from her relationship with her aunt and deposed authoritarian leader Sheikh Hasina, a Bangladeshi politician has said.

Ms Siddiq is the niece of Sheikh Hasina, the exiled former prime minister of Bangladesh who was removed from power last year following an uprising.

Its new government has accused Hasina of committing “massacres, killings and crimes against humanity”, including the deaths of around 800 protesters.

Ms Siddiq is alleged to have been involved in brokering a 2013 deal with Russia for a nuclear power plant in Bangladesh in which large sums of cash are said to have been embezzled.

She has also come under intense scrutiny over her use of properties in London linked to her aunt's allies.

Currently, there is no evidence Ms Siddiq or the Labour Party had any involvement in illicit funds being moved from Bangladesh to the UK or any other related allegations.

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Bobby Hajjaj clip

Bangladeshi anti-corruption officials have claimed that Ms Siddiq and her family embezzled the equivalent of several billion pounds from nine large building projects, including a nuclear power plant.

Ms Siddiq denies these claims but has submitted herself to Sir Laurie Magnus for investigation to prove her innocence.

Speaking to LBC’s Tom Swarbrick, Bangladeshi politician Bobby Hajjaj, who is a political opponent of Hasina, has said the government must conduct a full investigation into allegations to ensure Ms Siddiq did not “loot a third-world country”.

He said: “The moment there is clear evidence, there is no need for investigation, then you just proceed with the law.

“The investigation is to find the clear evidence because there's so much doubt, so much circumstantial evidence.

“We believe that even from our end will very soon get clear evidence. But because of all of these situations, the need is there for an investigation to find this clear evidence or clear her name.”

On whether an investigation needs to prove that Tulip Siddiq did not profit from her relationship with her aunt, Hajjaj said: “Yes, absolutely.

“Because if it did, you looted from a third-world country to fund your campaign, to fund sort of your activity, then you are as culpable as Sheikh Hasina is of destroying this country.

“I think there is a certain possibility and there's enough of a possibility that it deserves a thorough investigation.”

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden said he had full confidence in Ms Siddiq and she had acted properly by referring herself to Sir Laurie.

Mr McFadden, whose influence in government has led to him being dubbed the "real deputy prime minister", was asked by Times Radio if he had full confidence in Ms Siddiq.

Mr McFadden replied: "Yes."

He added: "She has done the right thing. All these allegations have been made, and she has referred all of them to the independent adviser on ministerial interests.

"When we won the election six months ago, we boosted the powers of the independent adviser in the new ministerial code that was issued, to make sure that he had the power to initiate and carry out investigations into allegations like this.

"That is what he is doing, and that is the right way to deal with this."

Ms Siddiq pulled out of Rachel Reeves' trip to China in order to deal with the allegations against her.

In her letter referring herself to Sir Laurie, she said she was "clear that I have done nothing wrong".

A spokesperson for Tulip Siddiq told LBC: “Tulip has self-reported to the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards to independently establish the facts on these matters.

"She is clear that she has done nothing wrong. It would be inappropriate to comment further while that process is ongoing.”