Keir Starmer backs Labour minister Tulip Siddiq after she was 'accused of family corruption plot' in Bangladesh
19 December 2024, 16:14 | Updated: 19 December 2024, 18:41
Sir Keir Starmer is backing Tulip Siddiq after the Treasury minister was named in an anti-corruption investigation in Bangladesh.
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The prime minister said Siddiq denies any involvement in alleged corruption in the South Asian country.
He added that he wouldn't comment on unconfirmed media speculation.
Sir Keir said Ms Siddiq had not been formally contacted by authorities, and he did not know of any attempts by the Bangladeshi government to get in touch.
The Labour minister has been accused of serious corruption in Bangladesh, with local officials launching an embezzlement probe.
Ms Siddiq, the City minister, is said to have helped her aunt, who until a few months ago was the Bangladeshi prime minister, siphon off billions of pounds from infrastructure projects.
Hampstead and Highgate MP Ms Siddiq, 42, has not commented publicly but sources close to her have dismissed the allegations and said they constitute politically motivated attacks on her aunt, Sheikh Hasina.
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, according to local media.
Syed Faruk, who runs the UK branch of Ms Hasina's Awami League party, said the claims were "fabricated".
"These are 100 per cent politically motivated attacks against the Hasina family by the current government," he told the Mail.
"They are attacking Tulip because she is the niece of our honourable prime minister, Sheikh Hasina."
Ms Siddiq, who is also the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, is one of several family members accused of taking part in the alleged corrupt activities.
Anti-corruption officials accuse her specifically of playing a key part in brokering a deal with the Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom, which is helping build the nuclear power plant.
Ms Hasina, who was PM from 2009-2024, has fled to India after losing power in an uprising this year.
She was accused of running a totalitarian and corrupt regime, with political opponents reportedly persecuted, imprisoned and even killed.
Ms Hasina resigned in August after mass protests that turned violent.
The current Bangladeshi government has asked India for permission to extradite her to face over 150 charges, including 135 for murder.
The British Treasury and the Labour Party also declined to comment on the allegations against Ms Siddiq.
