Tulip Siddiq interviewed over corruption probe in UK

Tulip Siddiq has been interviewed by Cabinet Office officials over allegations of embezzlement by her family, reports British daily broadsheet newspaper Telegraph.

Tulip is niece of Sheikh Hasina - ousted prime minister of Bangladesh - and a minister of Labour party in UK.

She is being investigated over claims that she and four family members embezzled $4 billion through a nuclear power plant deal in Bangladesh.

On Sunday, it emerged that the Cabinet Office propriety and ethics team questioned Tulip over the allegations.

“It followed the disclosure that she could be questioned by anti-corruption officials from Bangladesh,” the Telegraph report continued.

Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) launched its investigation into Tulip, 42, last week, along with her mother, Sheikh Rehana Siddiq, 69, and aunt, Sheikh Hasina Wazed, 77, Bangladesh’s former prime minister, who was ousted after 15 years in the post.

The ACC was ordered to investigate by Bangladesh’s high court, which heard claims that the minister and family members siphoned $5 billion from the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project through fake companies and Malaysian bank accounts into the UK and US.

Sir Keir Starmer has stood by Tulip, who denies the claims and said no authority has contacted her so far about the allegations. Labour party officials described the claims as “spurious” and made for political reasons by opponents of Hasina.

The Telegraph quotes the Mail’s report: “Five investigators were gathering ‘documentary evidence’ relating to Tulip and others, and were likely to write to them within weeks for their responses.”

Citing the paper, the media reported that the ACC would send any letter to Tulip through the British High Commission in, Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital.

Anonymous officials told the media that once they received responses, investigators would assess whether to issue First Information Reports.

These documents would make Tulip a potential suspect, and give Bangladeshi police the power to arrest her. An ACC official said: “The investigation is at the inquiry stage. Once the inquiry is over, we’ll send letters to everyone. She [Tulip] will be called to make a response.”

Telegraph quoted Akhtar Hussain, the director general (prevention) of the ACC, as saying: “The letters would give Tulip and her family members ‘the chance to defend themselves’.”

“If Tulip – whose roles include stamping out fraud in Britain’s financial sector – does not co-operate, then she will undermine recent commitments the Government has given to the Bangladeshi authorities to help them recover billions stolen by members of Hasina’s government” the media report furthered.

In October, National Crime Agency (NCA) investigators visited Bangladesh to “support” its anti-corruption probes.

The media reported that a Tory MP has written to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner asking them to launch a probe into Tulip over the allegations.

Labour said: “Tulip has not been contacted by anyone on the matter and totally refutes the claims.”