Anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq has found herself in the spotlight as she faces claims of breaking Westminster’s ethics rules.
Six months after Labour won the election – and nine years after becoming an MP – Ms Siddiq is facing calls to step down from her Treasury post over links to her aunt, the ousted former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Ms Siddiq has referred herself to Sir Keir Starmer’s independent ethics watchdog and ministers have said they will wait for the outcome to decide on her fate.
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The MP has insisted she has done nothing wrong.
Sky News takes a look at the accusations.
What are the allegations against Tulip Siddiq?
The 42-year-old MP for Hampstead and Highgate (Hampstead and Kilburn before a 2024 boundary change) is accused of benefitting financially through three London properties linked to her aunt and her allies.
Ms Hasina is facing a probe by Bangladesh’s anti-corruption commission into her regime.
The properties in question are:
1. A £2.1m house in Finchley, north London, currently rented by Ms Siddiq and owned by businessman Abdul Karim Nazim, an executive member of her aunt’s Awami League party’s UK branch.
2. A flat in King’s Cross owned by the MP that the Financial Times reports was given to her by Abdul Motalif, an associate of members of the Awami League party – not by her parents as previously reported. She rents this flat out.
3. A property in Hampstead, north London, that Ms Siddiq was registered at and was transferred to her then teenage sister in 2009 by lawyer Moin Ghani, who has represented Ms Hasina’s government.
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‘Will you resign?’
The MP, who was born in London, has also been named in Bangladesh court documents as allegedly helping her aunt broker a 2013 deal with Russia for the Rooppur nuclear power plant.
Ms Siddiq, who was a councillor in the London Borough of Camden at the time, was pictured with Ms Hasina and Vladimir Putin during a visit to the Kremlin in 2013.
The documents suggest Ms Siddiq received embezzled funds from the artificial inflation of construction costs of the power plant, which was mainly funded by Russia.
It is alleged $5bn (£3.9bn) was siphoned from the project’s budget “in collusion with Russian officials”.
The documents were submitted to Bangladesh’s High Court by a political rival of Ms Hasina’s.
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Tulip Siddiq (far left) with her aunt, Sheikh Hasina (third left), and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a 2013 signing ceremony in the Kremlin as Moscow lent $1.5bn to help build a nuclear power station. File pic: AP
Who is Sheikh Hasina?
Sheikh Hasina was Bangladesh’s prime minister for 20 years – the world’s longest-serving female head of government – but in August was deposed following a mass uprising after elections widely criticised as being fraudulent.
Her premiership was marked by rampant corruption, with Ms Hasina being detained on extortion charges and serving jail time.
Human Rights Watch has said it documented widespread enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings during her time in power.
But the 77-year-old was also praised for giving nearly a million Rohingya fleeing genocide in Myanmar refuge and assistance in 2017.
Tulip Siddiq with Sheikh Hasina in 2009. Pic: Reuters
Following last summer’s uprising, she fled to India where she is in self-imposed exile, and is facing an investigation by Bangladesh’s anti-corruption commission.
Most of Ms Hasina’s family were assassinated in 1975 during a coup d’etat but she, her husband and sister, Sheikh Rehana – Ms Siddiq’s mother – were in Europe at the time. They were offered political asylum by the then Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi and lived in Delhi for six years before returning home in 1981 with Ms Hasani as president of the Awami League party.
Ms Siddiq’s mother lived in exile in the UK during the 1980s and in 2016 was made a local councillor representing the Awami League in Dhaka. Her son, and Ms Hasina’s son and daughter, are also councillors there.
What has Tulip Siddiq said?
Sir Keir said on 6 January Ms Siddiq had referred herself to his independent adviser on ministerial standards, Sir Laurie Magnus.
She had been due to join a delegation heading to China last week, but remained in the UK to clear her name.
In her letter to Sir Laurie, she said: “In recent weeks I have been the subject of media reporting, much of it inaccurate, about my financial affairs and my family’s links to the former government of Bangladesh.
“I am clear that I have done nothing wrong.
“However, for the avoidance of doubt, I would like you to independently establish the facts about these matters.
“I will obviously ensure you have all the information you need to do this.”
Ms Siddiq has also denied brokering a deal with Russia for the nuclear power plant and reportedly told a UK government official she was the target of a “political hit job”.
She has previously said she and her aunt never spoke about politics.
However, Sky News discovered blog posts she wrote in 2008 and 2009, when she was a Labour activist, describing campaigning with her aunt in Bangladesh’s general election and celebrating her victory.
The Times also reported that the MP’s Labour Party flyers and a thank you note to local Labour Party members after she was elected as an MP were found in the palace in Dhaka that belonged to her aunt.
How have Labour reacted?
Sir Keir said Ms Siddiq “has acted entirely properly” by referring herself to the ethics watchdog.
“It’s to allow ministers to ask the adviser to establish the facts, and yes, I’ve got confidence in her, and that’s the process that will now be happening,” he said.
Science Secretary Peter Kyle suggested to Sky’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips Ms Siddiq could lose her job depending on the outcome of the watchdog’s process.
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Labour: ‘Tulip Siddiq will lose job if she broke rules’
What have the Conservatives said?
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has called for Sir Keir to sack Ms Siddiq, adding: “He appointed his personal friend as anti-corruption minister and she is accused herself of corruption.
“Now the government of Bangladesh is raising serious concerns about her links to the regime of Sheikh Hasina.”
How has Bangladesh reacted?
Bangladesh’s anti-money laundering agency has asked the country’s banks for details of accounts and transactions linked to Ms Siddiq, her aunt, mother, her brother and cousins.
Her allies insist she has no bank accounts outside the UK and her spokesperson said she has not been contacted by the Bangladeshi authorities.
Nobel peace-prize winning economist Muhammad Yunus, who is leading Bangladesh’s interim government, said the London properties used by Ms Siddiq should be investigated and returned if she is found to have benefitted from “plain robbery”.