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Bangladeshi authorities have sought the bank account details of UK City Minister Tulip Siddique after her family members accused her of embezzling funds from the South Asian country.
The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit on Tuesday ordered the country’s banks to provide transaction details of all accounts linked to the former ruling family, people familiar with the matter said.
The directive to the banks mentioned among others Siddique, whose aunt Sheikh Hasina was ousted as Bangladesh’s prime minister last year after student-led mass protests.
The minister was named in an investigation by Bangladesh’s anti-corruption commission last month after Sheikh Hasina’s political rival Siddiq, along with his family, accused him of cutting out of a Russian-backed nuclear power project, claims they deny.
Tuesday’s move has put pressure on the ousted leader and her family. Besides Sheikh Hasina and Siddique, the order included five other members of their extended family, including Siddique’s mother Sheikh Rehana and Hasina’s US-based son Sajeeb Wazed, who were also named in the ACC investigation.
Sheikh Rehana and Wazed could not immediately be reached for comment.
After taking power in August, Bangladesh’s interim government led by Muhammad Yunus appointed Ahsan Mansoor, a former IMF official, to head the country’s central bank and began returning billions of dollars that the country’s new leaders claimed had been siphoned out of the banking system and sent abroad. was done .
Dr. Mansur in an interview in October told the FT An estimated Tk2tn ($16.7 billion) has left the country after leading banks were forcibly transferred by people linked to Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League political party, using methods such as fake loans and inflating import invoices.
A friend of Siddique said he only had a UK bank account and no overseas accounts.
“No evidence has been produced for these allegations. Tulip has not been contacted in this regard and has completely denied the claims,” a spokesperson for Siddiqui said of the allegations surrounding the Russia-backed nuclear power plant.
The FT revealed on Friday that Siddique became the owner of a two-bedroom flat near Kings Cross in 2004 without paying for it. It was a gift By a developer associated with senior Awami League figures.
Siddiq, who served as UK anti-corruption minister as Sir Keir Starmer’s Labor government minister, has lived in several properties linked to his aunt and the Awami League.
Siddique on Monday referred to himself UK government advisers have criticized the minister over his ownership of the property and maintained he has done nothing wrong.
In a letter to Sir Laurie Magnus, he said: “In recent weeks I have been the subject of media reporting, much of it inaccurate, about my finances and my family’s relationship with the former government of Bangladesh.”
“For the avoidance of doubt,” he added. “I want you to independently establish facts about these matters. I will definitely make sure you have all the information you need to do this.”
