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A member of Sir Keir Starmer’s top team has referred herself to the government’s independent ethics adviser over her links to the deposed prime minister of Bangladesh.
Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq, who is responsible for tackling financial crime, will be investigated by standards watchdog Sir Laurie Magnus amid questions over her aunt Sheikh Hasina, who was removed from power after protests against her rule last year.
Questions have been swirling around Ms Siddiq since she was named in a probe launched by the new Bangladeshi government’s anti-corruption commission. She is alleged to have helped her aunt siphon off £5.2bn intended to be used building eight large-scale projects including a nuclear power plant.
She faced fresh scrutiny over the weekend as it emerged she was given a central London flat by a person connected with Ms Hasina’s Awami League party, and that she lived in a property in Hampstead, north London, that was given to her sister for free by an ally of her aunt’s regime.
Amid growing pressure on Ms Siddiq to resign, Sir Keir confirmed she had referred herself to the standards advisor, who investigates potential breaches of the ministerial code and can advise the PM on sanctions for those in breach.
At a press conference on Monday, Sir Keir said: “Tulip Siddiq has acted entirely properly by referring herself to the independent adviser, as she has now done.
“That is why we brought in the new code, to allow ministers to ask the adviser to establish the facts.
“Yes, I have confidence in her and that is the process that will now be happening.” As well as referring herself to the watchdog, Ms Siddiq will now no longer go on a trip to China this week alongside Rachel Reeves and Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey, but will stay at home to assist the probe.
Shadow Home Office minister Matt Vickers said: There are clear questions for his friend and anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq to answer about allegations made about her. She must be held to the same standards as other ministers in his government, indications so far show that that may not be the case.”
It came after The Sunday Times revealed Ms Siddiq had lived in the Hampstead property given to her then-teenage sister Azmina in 2009 by Moin Ghani, a Bangladeshi lawyer who has represented Ms Hasina’s government and has been pictured with Ms Hasina.
Ms Siddiq is also renting a £2.1m home in East Finchley owned by an executive member of the UK wing of Ms Hasina’s Awami League.
Ms Hasina, Bangladesh’s longest-serving prime minister, is now in India after being ousted in August following weeks of violent anti-government protests.
She has been accused by the new Bangladeshi administration of corruption, as well as “massacres, killings and crimes against humanity” including the deaths of at least 800 protesters. Ms Siddiq is one of several family members alleged to have benefited from the corruption – but denies wrongdoing.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “It is high time for Tulip Siddiq to explain the source of her wealth, and whether any of it comes from the proceeds of her aunt’s alleged corrupt dealings.”
He called for Sir Keir to suspend her from her anti-corruption brief until she has answered any outstanding questions about her aunt’s regime.
Bangladesh’s anti-corruption commission has launched a probe into Ms Siddiq, her UK-based mother Sheikh Rehana Siddiq, and her aunt Ms Hasina, who ruled the country for more than 15 years.
The nuclear plant at the centre of the probe was built by Russian state-backed firm Rosatom, while the deal was signed in the Kremlin a decade ago in a ceremony attended by Ms Siddiq, her aunt and Vladimir Putin.