Tulip Siddiq: The anti-corruption minister at centre of houses row

The MP has referred herself to the watchdog for ministerial requirements after media reviews raised questions on numerous properties related to her and her household and her aunt’s political motion in Bangladesh.

Following reviews that she lived in properties in London linked to allies of her aunt, former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, Ms Siddiq referred herself to the impartial adviser on ministerial requirements, Sir Laurie Magnus, on January 6.

Chatting with the Sunday Instances, Bangladeshi chief Muhammad Yunus stated London properties utilized by Ms Siddiq needs to be investigated and handed again to his authorities in the event that they had been acquired by means of “plain theft”.

He additionally known as on her to apologise and resign, saying: “She turns into the minister for anti-corruption and defends herself. Perhaps you didn’t realise it however now you realise it.

“You say: ‘Sorry, I didn’t realize it (at) that point, I search forgiveness from the those who I did this and I resign.’ She’s not saying that. She’s defending herself.”

Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative chief, accused the prime minister of appointing “his private good friend as anti-corruption minister and she or he is accused herself of corruption” and known as for her to be sacked.

Tulip Siddiq was additionally seen on the Kremlin in 2013 when Putin closed a £10 billion deal for Russian state-backed power firm Rosatom to construct Bangladesh’s first nuclear energy plant.

Sheikh Hasina, Siddiq’s aunt, was the longest serving prime minister of Bangladesh. She fled the nation and went into self-imposed exile earlier this yr following a student-led rebellion. So who’s Tulip Siddiq and the way did she get right here?

Tulip Siddiq, 42, was born in north London. Her mom, Sheikh Rahana, gained political asylum within the UK as a younger lady, after a navy coup ousted her household in Bangladesh.

She joined the Labour Social gathering aged 16 and campaigned within the US in 2008 for Barack Obama to be elected president and was a part of Ed Miliband’s marketing campaign to be Labour chief in 2010.

She ran for election as a councillor for Camden unsuccessfully in 2006 earlier than changing into the primary feminine Bangladeshi councillor for Camden Council in 2010. In 2015 she grew to become the MP for Hampstead and Highgate.

As a north London MP, Siddiq has campaigned for refugees, range and equal pay within the workforce, and for the liberty of her constituent Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian citizen detained in Iran between 2016 and 2022.

When Labour gained the 2024 election, Keir Starmer, the brand new prime minister, made her financial secretary to the Treasury, a task with duty for reforming and regulating the UK’s monetary companies.

The MP’s maternal grandfather was Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the primary president of Bangladesh. In 1975, the Bangladesh military invaded the president’s residence and assassinated all the household – aside from Sheikh Rahana and her older sister Sheikh Hasina, who had been in West Germany on the time.

Sheikh Hasina, Siddiq’s aunt, took refuge in India earlier than being elected as president of political celebration Bangladesh Awami League in 1981 and returning to her dwelling nation. She was elected and served because the president of Bangladesh between 1996 and 2001 and once more between 2009 and 2024.

Hasina’s successive phrases made her the longest serving feminine head of presidency on the earth and she or he has been credited with the nation’s rising financial success. Nonetheless, her regime has been described as more and more authoritarian, with allegations of political arrests, disappearances and extra-judicial killings of her opponents.

She fled Bangladesh to India in a helicopter in Could after a protest led by college students stormed her official residence. Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Fee (ACC) is now investigating Hasina for corruption, which has dropped at consideration Siddiq’s involvement with the nuclear take care of Russia.

In 2013 Hasina signed a take care of President Putin to construct Rooppur nuclear energy plant, the nation’s first. Russian state-backed firm Rosatom equipped the reactor and designed the crucial infrastructure. The plant is because of begin producing electrical energy this yr.

Siddiq will be seen along with her aunt and the Russian chief in footage taken on the Kremlin through the signing of the £10 billion deal.

The ACC is alleging that £3.9 billion of kickbacks from the power deal had been embezzled by Hasina’s household, and that Siddiq herself was “instrumental in managing the affairs and coordinating conferences with Russian authorities officers”.

Siddiq has “denied any involvement within the claims”, by way of a spokesperson for Keir Starmer. She beforehand stated she was in attendance purely to be a part of a “household event”.

Starmer has backed Siddiq to stay in submit because the financial secretary to the Treasury and proceed dealing with anti-corruption points.

Sure. In 2017 Alex Thomson of Channel 4 Information requested Siddiq in regards to the disappearance of British barrister Ahmad bin Quasem in Bangladesh throughout her aunt’s rule. This was through the time the MP was campaigning for Nazanin’s launch.

Siddiq was caught on digicam making “apparently threatening” remarks to Channel 4 producer Daisy Ayliffe, who was pregnant on the time. The MP stated: “Thanks for coming, Daisy, hope you might have an amazing beginning, as a result of little one labour is difficult!”

She later put out an apology assertion, saying her remark was “an off-hand and ill-judged try to take care of what I felt was a hostile state of affairs”.

She is now being questioned over the houses state of affairs however claims she has achieved nothing mistaken.

In a letter to Sir Laurie asking for an investigation to be opened, she maintained she had achieved nothing mistaken.

In her letter to Sir Laurie, Ms Siddiq stated: “In latest weeks I’ve been the topic of media reporting, a lot of it inaccurate, about my monetary affairs and my household’s hyperlinks to the previous authorities of Bangladesh.

“I’m clear that I’ve achieved nothing mistaken. Nonetheless, for the avoidance of doubt, I would love you to independently set up the information about these issues. I’ll clearly guarantee you might have all the data it is advisable do that.”

The prime minister has backed the MP for now and informed a press convention Ms Siddiq had “acted fully correctly” in referring herself to Sir Laurie and that he had “confidence in her”.

Others have additionally backed her. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Pat McFadden, stated he had full confidence in Ms Siddiq.

He informed Instances Radio: “She has achieved the appropriate factor. All these allegations have been made, and she or he has referred all of them to the impartial adviser on ministerial pursuits.

“After we gained the election six months in the past, we boosted the powers of the impartial adviser within the new ministerial code that was issued, to guarantee that he had the ability to provoke and perform investigations into allegations like this. That’s what he’s doing, and that’s the proper method to take care of this.”