Tulip Siddiq: Bangladesh leader calls for UK minister to apologise amid corruption probe
Tulip Siddiq: Bangladesh leader calls for UK minister to apologise amid corruption probe
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Kemi Badenoch calls on Sir Keir Starmer to sack Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq. The leader of Bangladesh has called on UK anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq to apologise over allegations that she has lived in London properties linked to the regime of his predecessor.
![[Sheikh Hasina, the now deposed prime minister of Bangladesh and aunt of Tulip Siddiq, pictured during a 2014 visit to London]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/19/13/b5a4556531091c9ad3cbd9f3b01fbe9cY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM0Njk4NjM0-2.20465215.jpg)
Sir Keir Starmer faced fresh calls from the Tories on Saturday to sack Ms Siddiq as a minister, as Bangladesh’s leader Muhammad Yunus called for an investigation into the properties to determine whether they were acquired through “plain robbery”.
![[The chief adviser of Bangladesh’s interim government, Muhammad Yunus, has pledged to step down once elections are called by mid-2026]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/11/17/14/COP29_Climate_Summit_76924.jpg)
Ms Siddiq – whose aunt Sheikh Hasina led an increasingly autocratic regime in Bangladesh for 15 years until its shock fall in August – reported herself to the UK government’s ethics watchdog last week after it emerged that she was being investigated by Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
![[Sir Keir Starmer has said he has confidence in Tulip Siddiq]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/11/00/Britain_Politics_82743.jpg)
In her letter to standards adviser Sir Laurie Magnus, Ms Siddiq said she was “clear that I have done nothing wrong” and alleged that much of the recent reporting had been inaccurate. Sir Keir later said Ms Siddiq had “acted entirely properly” in referring herself to Sir Laurie and that he had “confidence in her”.
Her self-referral came after the Sunday Times and Financial Times reported she had lived in properties linked to her aunt’s regime – one in Hampstead allegedly given to her teenage sister, and another in King’s Cross allegedly given to her by an associate of members of Bangladesh’s Awami League party.
