Tulip Siddiq. Photo: Reuters

LONDON, Jan 14, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq resigned from the UK government Tuesday after being named in graft probes in Bangladesh launched when her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, was ousted as the country's leader.

In a letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Siddiq repeated she had done nothing wrong but said continuing in office would likely "be a distraction from the work of the government".

Siddiq, 42, has been dogged by claims about her links to Hasina, who fled Bangladesh in August after a student-led uprising against her decades-long, increasingly authoritarian tenure as prime minister.

Hasina, 77, has defied extradition requests to face Bangladeshi charges including of mass murder.

On Monday, Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission announced she and family members, including Siddiq, were subject to another graft probe, this time over an alleged land grab of lucrative plots in a suburb of the capital Dhaka.

Family members including Siddiq had already emerged as named targets of the commission's investigation into accusations of embezzlement of $5 billion connected to a Russian-funded nuclear power plant.

Bangladeshi money laundering investigators have since ordered the country's big banks to hand over details of transactions relating to Siddiq as part of the probe.

In her letter of resignation, Siddiq said her "family connections were a matter of public record" and that she had acted with "full transparency".

She insisted her "loyalty is and always will be" to the Labour government and the "programme of national renewal and transformation it has embarked upon".

"I have therefore decided to resign from my ministerial position."
Starmer 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 is an MP for a north London constituency whose ministerial job was part of the finance ministry and responsible for the UK's financial services sector as well as anti-corruption measures.

Over the weekend, a Sunday Times investigation revealed details about the claims that she spent years living in a London flat bought by an offshore company connected to two Bangladeshi businessmen.

The flat was eventually transferred as a gift to a Bangladeshi lawyer with links to Hasina, her family and her ousted government, according to the newspaper.

It also reported Siddiq and her family were given or used several other London properties bought by members or associates of the Awami League party.