Muhammad Yunus, the interim leader of Bangladesh, has called for an investigation into London properties owned by Labour's anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq and her family, alleging they may have been acquired through 'robbery'.
Labour's anti-corruption minister is under fresh pressure to quit over her links to Bangladesh ’s ousted regime after the new leader of the country intervened in the controversy for the first time. Muhammad Yunus said that a series of London properties used by Economic Secretary to the Treasury Tulip Siddiq and her family should be investigated and returned to Bangladesh if they are found to have involved ‘robbery’.
Asked if the homes gifted by figures in her aunt’s Awami League party should be looked at as part of a probe recently launched by his country’s Anti-Corruption Commission, the Nobel peace prize-winning economist said: ‘Absolutely’. He cited a recent report that found the autocratic regime led by her aunt Sheikh Hasina, who has been accused of ‘crimes against humanity’ as well as corruption, had taken billions out pounds out of Bangladesh and used some of the money to buy property. ‘They pointed out how money is stolen, but it’s not stealing - when you steal, you hide it. It’s a robbery,’ Mr Yunus told the Sunday Times. Asked if that could apply to properties used by members of Hasina’s family in London, with Ms Siddiq and her relatives living in five different addresses over the years that were owned or gifted by Awami League figures, he agreed: ‘Absolutely, it’s about plain robbery. Nothing else’. He said it was ‘the intention of the interim government’ to work out how to bring the properties back. ‘Because it’s about people’s money. And when I say people it’s not about the billion-dollar people you talk about, common people.’ Anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq is under fresh pressure to quit over her links to Bangladesh’s ousted regime Mr Yunus said it was a ‘big issue’ if a British MP was involved and that he was ‘relieved that you’re bringing this to the attention of the world’. He said it was an ‘irony’ that Ms Siddiq, 42, had been accused of corruption given her ministerial role. ‘She becomes the minister for anti-corruption and defends herself. Maybe you didn’t realise it, but now you realise it. You say: “Sorry, I didn’t know it that time, I seek forgiveness from the people that I did this and I resign.” She’s not saying that. She’s defending herself.’ Support for Ms Siddiq within the Cabinet also appears to be ebbing away, a week after she was forced to refer herself to the Prime Minister’s Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests. Asked by Times Radio yesterday if the Government has full confidence in Ms Siddiq, Science Secretary Peter Kyle would only say: ‘We need to wait for the outcome of that inquiry. And so I have full confidence in the process and the country needs to rest assured that we’ve given that commissioner more powers and more independence. So that process must now carry on.’ In a separate interview with Sky News, he insisted that Sir Keir Starmer - a close friend as well as a constituency neighbour of Ms Siddiq - would act on the findings of watchdog Sir Laurie Magnus. Mr Kyle said: ‘I think the right way to go through this is to allow the authorities to investigate, we have given more powers to those authorities to do independent investigations, and you know full well when it comes to Keir Starmer he will listen to what the authorities say.’ However the Tories say that Ms Siddiq should be removed now as she is unable to carry on her role, having been forced to cancel a planned trip to China because of the furore. Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride said: ‘Because she is the anti-corruption minister, she has serious charges laid against her now, or serious accusations around corruption, and it’s going to be really impossible for her to do that job under current circumstances. ‘So she should step down, and the Prime Minister needs to get a grip of that.’ Last night it emerged that Labour Party posters and flyers produced by Ms Siddiq have been found in the ruined presidential palace in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, despite her previous insistence that she never discussed politics with her aunt. Ms Siddiq has insisted: ‘I am clear that I have done nothing wrong.
TULIP SIDDIQ BANGLADESH CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION PROPERTIES
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