LONDON — A British Treasury minister has referred herself to the U.Ok. authorities’s ethics watchdog following experiences that she lived in London properties linked to her aunt Sheikh Hasina, the ousted Bangladeshi prime minister.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer mentioned Monday that Treasury financial secretary Tulip Siddiq “acted fully correctly” by referring herself to his unbiased adviser on ministerial requirements.
Siddiq, who’s chargeable for tackling corruption in monetary markets, was named final month in an anti-corruption investigation in Bangladesh against Hasina. The investigation alleged that Siddiq’s household was concerned in brokering a 2013 take care of Russia for a nuclear energy plant in Bangladesh during which giant sums of cash had been mentioned to have been embezzled.
The minister confronted additional questions on her hyperlinks to her aunt’s regime after experiences within the Sunday Times and Financial Times newspapers alleged she had used two London flats given to her by associates of Bangladesh’s Awami League, led by Hasina.
Hasina was Bangladesh’s longest-serving prime minister and dominated the nation for 15 years till August 2024, when she was ousted amid a mass uprising during which lots of of protesters had been killed and 1000’s had been injured. Hasina, who has fled to India, faces many court cases over the deaths, together with some on prices of crimes towards humanity.
Siddiq, 42, maintains she has finished nothing unsuitable in her letter to the ministerial requirements watchdog, including: “For the avoidance of doubt, I would love you to independently set up the information about these issues.”
Starmer mentioned he had confidence in Siddiq, 42, who was elected lawmaker in north London in 2015. She had been because of be part of a U.Ok. authorities delegation to China later this week, however will now keep in Britain.
