DHAKA: 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 said.
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) confirmed that Bangladeshi banks had been instructed to furnish any financial records relating to Siddiq. A BFIU document 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 per cent 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.
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