UK minister’s links to ousted Bangladesh leader under scrutiny after corruption claims

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The UK’s City minister Tulip Siddiq often credits the support of her aunt, the former leader of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina when talking about her political career in Britain.

“She taught me [the] most,” Siddiq said, shortly after becoming Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate in 2015. “I learned everything about politics from her.”

A government minister since Labour’s election victory in July, Siddiq’s relationship with her aunt, who was forced out of office this summer, was brought to the fore this week after the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in Bangladesh said it was investigating allegations that Sheikh Hasina and her family, including Siddiq, siphoned off $5bn from a nuclear power plant project.

“Maybe it’s coincidental that Tulip’s name is involved in this,” said Iftekhar Zaman, chief of Transparency International Bangladesh. “My take is that [her involvement] cannot be ruled out. It should be properly, duly investigated.”

Labour has pushed back against allegations regarding Siddiq, made by a political rival of her aunt. But the claims have raised doubts about whether her position as City minister is tenable, given that her brief includes responsibility for measures against money laundering and for clamping down on illicit finance.

A Downing Street spokesperson said that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was not concerned about the allegations and that Siddiq “has denied any involvement”.

Labour party officials said they were trying to establish the facts of the ACC’s investigation. Siddiq did not respond to a request for comment.

Two people familiar with the ACC’s investigation in Bangladesh told the Financial Times that the agency was still in the preliminary stages of its work and that officials had yet to gather sufficient evidence to bring a formal charge.

Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League party ruled the South Asian country with an iron grip for nearly 16 years, during which they were alleged to have authorised extrajudicial killings and rigged elections. They were toppled this summer following a student-led protest that was initially met with violent suppression by security forces.

Escaping an angry mob that stormed the presidential palace in Dhaka, Sheikh Hasina fled Bangladesh along with her sister Sheikh Rehana — Siddiq’s mother — for India.

The interim government of Muhammad Yunus, who replaced Sheikh Hasina as Bangladesh’s leader, has separately accused individuals tied to the Awami League of embezzling billions of pounds from state-affiliated banks.

Before becoming an MP in 2015, Siddiq worked as a consultant for Philip Gould Associates, the firm of the late Labour peer and strategist. For a period she also had a role in the Awami League’s EU and UK “lobbying unit and election strategy team”, according to a Labour party blog post that has since been deleted.

In January 2013, Siddiq travelled to Moscow with her aunt as part of a delegation signing a nuclear and arms deal between Bangladesh and Russia. At an event at the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin granted Bangladesh a $1bn loan to purchase weapons and $500mn to help build Rooppur, the country’s first nuclear power plant.

An ally of Siddiq said she went to Russia to “see her aunt and spent time with her family”, adding: “She had no role at any events she attended beyond being a family member.”

Yet support from Awami League affiliates has extended to the Labour MP’s own campaigns.

“Had it not been for your help. I would never have been able to stand here as a British MP,” Siddiq told a crowd of the party’s supporters in 2015 at an event held in London to honour Sheikh Hasina.

Scores of UK-based Awami League supporters have travelled to Siddiq’s north London constituency during elections to help her secure votes, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

Images posted on social media show dozens of Awami League members visiting her constituency during the 2019 general election campaign at a time when Labour was behind in the polls. Siddiq was returned with a reduced majority but held her seat.

An aide to Siddiq said she did not have control over who volunteered on her campaign.

Two Labour officials told the FT that the Awami League had been a source of support for Siddiq during this year’s election campaign.

“She has traded on these relationships and it’s unsurprising that it’s come back to bite her,” said one of the Labour officials, noting that Siddiq had tried to “have it both ways with her family” by leveraging it for political clout but distancing herself from more serious allegations against her aunt.

Siddiq is renting a £2.1mn home owned by the UK-based Awami League executive member Abdul Karim, who purchased the property shortly before she moved into it around July 2022, according to public filings. The Daily Mail first reported the arrangement this summer and a person close to Siddiq said that she was paying market rates to rent the property.

One Labour official said that the relationship with Karim had been declared properly, in line with current rules.

A separate official said that her friend and ally Starmer — who holds the neighbouring seat of Holborn and St Pancras — was unlikely to make a move without authorities bringing a formal charge.

“To a certain extent, these types of allegations have been priced in by the leadership,” the official added. “It’s another unwelcome distraction.”