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Bangladeshi authorities have requested information about UK City minister Tulip Siddiq’s bank accounts following allegations that members of her family embezzled funds from the South Asian country.
The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit on Tuesday ordered banks in the country to provide transaction details for all accounts linked to the former ruling family, according to people familiar with the matter.
The directives sent to banks mentioned among others Siddiq, whose aunt Sheikh Hasina was ousted as prime minister of Bangladesh last year following student-led mass protests.
The minister was named in a probe last month by the Anti-Corruption Commission in Bangladesh after a political rival of Sheikh Hasina accused her family, including Siddiq, of taking a cut from a Russia-backed nuclear power project, claims they have denied.
Tuesday’s move marked a ratcheting-up of pressure on the ousted leader and her family. In addition to Sheikh Hasina and Siddiq, the orders covered five other members of their extended family, including Siddiq’s mother Sheikh Rehana and Hasina’s US-based son Sajeeb Wazed, who were also named in the ACC probe.
Sheikh Rehana and Wazed could not immediately be reached for comment.
After taking power in August, Bangladesh’s interim government led by Muhammad Yunus named Ahsan Mansur, a former IMF official, to head the country’s central bank and begin clawing back billions of dollars the country’s new leaders claim were taken out of the banking system and funnelled overseas.
In an interview in October, Mansur told the FT that an estimated Tk2tn ($16.7bn) had been taken out of the country after the forced takeovers of leading banks by people linked to the Awami League, the political party led by Sheikh Hasina, using methods such as bogus loans and inflated import invoices.
An ally of Siddiq said that she only held a UK bank account and did not possess any accounts overseas.
“No evidence has been presented for these allegations. Tulip has not been contacted by anyone on the matter and totally refutes the claims,” said a spokesperson for Siddiq regarding allegations surrounding the Russia-backed nuclear power plant.
The FT revealed on Friday that Siddiq became the owner of a two-bedroom flat near King’s Cross in 2004 without paying for it after it was gifted by a developer with links to senior figures in the Awami League.
Siddiq, who as a minister in Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government has responsibility for fighting UK corruption, has lived in multiple properties linked to her aunt and the Awami League.
On Monday Siddiq referred herself to the UK government’s adviser on ministerial standards over her property holdings and has maintained that she has done nothing wrong.
In a letter to Sir Laurie Magnus, she said: “In recent weeks I have been the subject of media reporting, much of it inaccurate, about my financial affairs and my family’s links to the former government of Bangladesh.”
“For the avoidance of doubt,” she added. “I would like you to independently establish the facts about these matters. I will obviously ensure you have all the information you need to do this.”