Bangladesh orders banks to assist UK minister graft probe

DHAKA (AFP): Bangladesh money laundering investigators have ordered the country’s big banks to hand over details of transactions relating to British anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq in an ongoing graft probe, officers told AFP.

Siddiq is the niece of former Bangladeshi premier Sheikh Hasina, who fled abroad last August after a student-led uprising against her iron-fisted tenure.

Last month the national anti-corruption commission launched a probe into the alleged embezzlement by Hasina’s family of $5 billion connected to a Russian-funded nuclear power plant.

Two officials from the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Bangladeshi banks had been instructed to furnish any financial records relating to Siddiq.

A BFIU document issued Tuesday and seen by AFP showed that banks had also been told to provide transaction records for Hasina, her son and daughter, Siddiq’s two siblings and her mother Sheikh Rehana.

The kickback allegations relate to the $12.65 billion Rooppur nuclear plant, which was bankrolled by Moscow with a 90 percent loan.

“The claims of kickbacks, mismanagement, money laundering, and potential abuse of power raise significant concerns about the integrity of the project and the use of public funds”, the anti-corruption commission said last month when announcing the probe.

The order came a day after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer revealed that Siddiq had referred herself to his standards adviser.

Siddiq insists she has done nothing wrong and a spokesman for Starmer said he retains “full confidence” in her.

The referral came after the Sunday Times and Financial Times newspapers reported that she had lived in properties linked to her aunt Sheikh Hasina’s administration.

“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,” Siddiq wrote in her letter to ministerial standards watchdog Laurie Magnus.

“I am clear that I have done nothing wrong,” she added. “However, for the avoidance of doubt, I would like you to independently establish the facts about these matters.”

Her aunt Hasina, 77, fled Bangladesh by helicopter on August 5, shortly before protesters stormed her palace in the capital Dhaka.

She remains in neighbouring India but the interim government that replaced her has demanded her extradition to face trial for the police killing of protesters during the revolt against her regime.