UK minister resigns after being named in Bangladesh corruption probe

Anticorruption minister Tulip Siddiq quits amid questions over ties to the country’s toppled leader, her aunt Sheikh Hasina.

The British minister responsible for financial services and fighting corruption has resigned after weeks of questions over her financial ties to her aunt Sheikh Hasina, the toppled prime minister of Bangladesh.

Tulip Siddiq, 42, had repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer said last week that he had full confidence in her.

The resignation on Tuesday of a second government minister in two months is a blow to Starmer, whose approval ratings have plunged since his Labour Party won a general election in July.

In a letter to the prime minister, Siddiq repeated she had done nothing wrong but said continuing her job in the Treasury office would likely “be a distraction from the work of the government”.

Starmer said he accepted her resignation with “sadness”.

He thanked Siddiq for her work and recognised that “no evidence of financial improprieties on your part” had been found.

“I appreciate that to end ongoing distraction from delivering our agenda to change Britain, you have made a difficult decision and want to be clear that the door remains open for you going forward,” Starmer added.

Siddiq was handed the portfolio for financial services policy after the election, a role that included responsibility for measures against money laundering.

Starmer swiftly appointed Emma Reynolds, who was a pensions minister, to Siddiq’s role.

Hasina, who had ruled Bangladesh since 2009, is being investigated there on suspicion of corruption and money laundering. Hasina and her party deny wrongdoing.

Siddiq was named in December as part of Bangladesh’s investigation into whether her family was involved in siphoning off funds from Bangladeshi infrastructure projects.

The anticorruption commission alleged financial irregularities worth billions of dollars in the awarding of a $12.65bn nuclear power contract, saying Hasina and Siddiq may have benefitted.

Siddiq faced further scrutiny over the use of properties in Britain linked to Hasina and her supporters.

Siddiq lived in a north London property given to her family in 2009 by Moin Ghani, a Bangladeshi lawyer who has represented Hasina’s government, documents filed with Companies House and the Land Registry cited by the Reuters news agency showed.

She also acquired a separate property in London in 2004 without paying for it from a developer linked to the Awami League, Hasina’s political party, the Financial Times reported this month.

Hasina fled from Bangladesh to India when she was toppled after weeks of protests.

Siddiq’s departure follows the resignation of British transport minister Louise Haigh late last year.

Haigh acknowledged a minor criminal offence before she entered government relating to a mobile phone that she had wrongly reported stolen.