City minister Tulip Siddiq has been named in Bangladesh’s second corruption probe.

Open the editor’s digest for free

FT editor Rula Khalaf picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.

UK Cities Minister Tulip Siddiq has been named in a second investigation by Bangladeshi authorities as she fights calls from charities to release her anti-corruption briefing.

Bangladesh’s anti-corruption commission has alleged that his aunt tried to pressure former leader Sheikh Hasina to hand over Siddique’s mother and two siblings in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone.

While investigators are on the job, Sheikh Hasina has given one acre of land to herself and her two children in the capital’s Purbachal New Town project using senior officials of Dhaka Development Authority RAJUK.

“When she found out . . . While serving as a member of the British Parliament, Mrs. Tulip Siddiq is said to have used her special influence and authority to get her aunt Sheikh Hasina to arrange a similar allocation for the same project, and her mother Mrs. Rehana Siddique is said to have been suspected. , her sister Ms. Azmina Siddique and her brother Mr. Radwan Mujeeb Siddique said, “The ACC filed the charges in its report on Monday. The report said Sheikh Rehana was implicated in the 2022 conspiracy.

The diagnosis is different Early diagnosis Siddiq and several other family members are said to have benefited from the Bangladesh government’s $12 billion nuclear power plant deal with Russia. The family has denied the allegations.

Siddiq has been a Labor MP since 2015 and is a close ally of UK Prime Minister Sir. Keir Starmer. Last week, Siddiqui referred herself to Sir Laurie Magnus, the government’s independent adviser on ministerial levels.

A spokesman for Siddiqui said on Tuesday: “Tulip has self-reported to an independent adviser on ministerial standards. She is clear she has done nothing wrong.

Downing Street said on Tuesday that Magnus would report back “shortly”.

Sheikh Rehana – Sheikh Hasina’s only sibling and a key political figure in the ousted administration – Radwan Mujeeb Siddique and Azmina Siddique could not immediately be reached for comment. Sheikh Hasina and her children Sajib Wazed and Saima Wazed could not immediately be reached.

It was Sheikh Hasina’s regime. It came down last summer The student-led protests were initially followed by a crackdown by security forces, resulting in the loss of hundreds of civilian lives.

The former Bangladeshi leader said last month that she had ordered security forces to use lethal force against protesters and that the charges against her were “false propaganda”.

Her son, Sajib Wazed, rejected the nuclear power plant probe last month, telling Reuters: “It is impossible to take billions out of a $10 billion project (nuclear deal). . . “None of us have ever seen such money.”

Siddiqui, the UK’s opposition Conservative Party, has called for her to step down from her post at the Treasury, saying her current role as an anti-corruption charity cannot continue.

The UK Anti-Corruption Coalition – which includes groups such as Oxfam, Transparency International and Spotlight on Corruption – said in a statement on Monday that Siddique should hand over responsibilities for combating economic crime, money laundering and illicit financing to another government minister.

Siddiq has a “serious conflict of interest” due to his direct family links to the ousted regime, which could now be investigated by UK authorities, the coalition said.

“The UK has a historic responsibility to support the new interim government of Bangladesh, ensure a democratic transition and recover looted assets, not least because some of these assets may be hiding in the UK,” the coalition added.

A spokesman for Starmer said on Monday that the prime minister had “full confidence” in Siddiqui.