Tulip Siddiq has been interviewed by the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team over claims she and members of her family took billions in bribes, it emerged last night.
The Treasury minister, who is responsible for stamping out economic crime in Britain’s financial sector, has been named in an anti-corruption investigation in Bangladesh.
She is alleged to have been involved in brokering a 2013 deal with Russia for a nuclear power plant project in Bangladesh in which up to £4billion is said to have been embezzled. Ms Siddiq’s aunt Sheikh Hasina – prime minister of Bangladesh for a total of 20 years until recently – is also being probed, along with the minister’s mother Sheikh Rehana Siddiq.
Last night it was reported that Ms Siddiq, 42, had agreed to attend a meeting with a representative of the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team (PET).
The Times said Ms Siddiq welcomed the official to her office and gave her response to allegations about her involvement in the £10billion Rooppur plant project.
Her explanation was accepted at face value, the paper reported, and the meeting does not indicate there is any kind of civil service investigation into her.
Last night the Government said it would neither confirm nor deny if any private conversations had been held.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, third right, and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, third left, tulip siddiq MP (left)
The Treasury minister has been named in an anti-corruption investigation in Bangladesh
Kier Starmer and Tulip Saddiq celebrating their election victories in Camden in 2015
But a Cabinet Office spokesman said: ‘As previously stated, the minister has denied any involvement.’
Ms Siddiq did not respond to a request for comment.
Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has launched a probe into Ms Siddiq and members of her family over the alleged embezzlement linked to the nuclear power plant deal. It was launched after an order from the country’s High Court, which heard claims that Ms Siddiq may have helped to ‘broker’ the deal.
The power plant was built by a Russian state-backed company called Rosatom, and the deal was signed in the Kremlin in 2013 by Ms Hasina and Vladimir Putin in the presence of Ms Siddiq, then a Labour councillor.
At the same meeting in Moscow, her aunt penned a deal for a $1billion (£795million) loan to Bangladesh to buy Russian weapons and military equipment.
In a statement after the talks, the Russian president said: ‘Our countries intend to expand defence cooperation. Russia – and you have seen the signing of this agreement – will extend a $1billion loan to Bangladesh to buy Russian weapons and military equipment.’
Ms Siddiq has refused to comment on the allegations. But a Labour Party spokesman said she ‘totally refutes’ the claims.
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