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UK City minister Tulip Siddiq is under pressure to resign, with the opposition leader calling for him to be sacked after being implicated in a property scandal linked to the ousted Bangladesh government.
Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservatives, said Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer should sack Siddiq, whose role covers anti-corruption policy, following allegations that he benefited from assets linked to the Awami League, the party led by Sheikh Hasina. former prime minister of Bangladesh.
“It's time for Keir Starmer to sack Tulip Siddiq,” Badenoch said post on X on Saturday night. “The Prime Minister tried to do a lot with his commitment to values and integrity. . . His weak leadership of Siddiq suggests that he is not as troubled by virtue as he says. ”
Earlier this week, Siddiq referred himself to Sir Laurie Magnus, the government's independent adviser on ministerial standards, after a Financial Times investigation found that you have been given a two-bedroom flat at London's King's Cross in the early 2000s as a liaison to the Awami League.
On Sunday a cabinet minister suggested that Siddiq would be sacked if an investigation found wrongdoing. “The investigation must continue,” science minister Peter Kyle told Sky's Trevor Phillips.
“I think this is the best way forward. I give it all the space it needs to do. I will listen to the results, as will the prime minister.
“It will be a working process, and its results will stick to the prime minister and this government, unlike what we had before.”
Siddiq insisted he had done nothing wrong and Number 10 insiders said they had so far seen no evidence of any breach of the ministerial code.
The City Minister has occupied several other properties tied to the previous Awami League regime, which was there it was dropped last summer following a student-led protest that was met with violence by security forces that led to the death of hundreds of people.
Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and Bangladesh's interim leader, said in an interview with the Sunday Times that properties used by Siddiq should be returned if the minister is found to have benefited from “minor extortion”.
“He becomes the anti-corruption minister and he defends himself (in London buildings),” he said. “Maybe you didn't understand, but now you do.” He says: 'I'm sorry, I didn't know (at the time), I apologize to people if I did this and I resign.' It doesn't mean that. He's protecting himself.”
Siddiq was like that called in the investigation last month by Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission after a political rival of Sheikh Hasina accused her family, including Siddiq, of taking part in a Russian-backed nuclear power project, claims they deny.
After taking power in August, Bangladesh's interim government called Ahsan Mansur, a former IMF official, to head the country's central bank and begin reimbursing billions of dollars the country claimed the country's new leaders had taken out of the banking system and sent abroad.
In an interview in October, Mansur told the FT that an estimated Tk2tn ($16.7 billion) was siphoned out of the country after the takeover of major banks by people linked to the Awami League, using methods such as fake loans and inflated import invoices.
The Financial Intelligence Unit of Bangladesh last week ordered banks in the country to provide transaction details in all accounts related to Siddiq and his family, according to people familiar with the matter.
Siddiq's friend said he only holds a UK bank account and has no accounts abroad.
Downing Street pointed to Starmer's comments earlier this week when he said he trusted Siddiq and had “acted appropriately by referring himself to an independent adviser”.