Former Labour minister Tulip Siddiq has accused the Bangladeshi authorities of mounting a “targeted and baseless” campaign against her. In a letter to Bangladesh’s Anti Corruption Commission (ACC), the MP’s lawyers say allegations of corruption are “false and vexatious” and have never been formally put to her by investigators, despite being briefed to the media. Siddiq resigned as economic secretary to the Treasury, with responsibility for tackling corruption in the UK’s financial markets, in January.
In January, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer accepted her resignation, saying the “door remains open” to her return. Siddiq had referred herself to the PM’s ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus when the corruption allegations first surfaced, but he concluded that he had “not identified evidence of improprieties”.
The ACC is examining claims Sheikh Hasina and her family embezzled up to £3.9bn from infrastructure spending in Bangladesh, and former Labour leader Bobing allegations made by a political opponent of Hasina.
Siddiq’s lawyers have repeatedly denied allegations of any wrongdoing, and insist that the claims are “absurd” and “cannot be true”.
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