After being named in an anti-corruption investigation in Bangladesh, Tulip Siddiq, the niece of ousted Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the UK Treasury Minister, spoke with the UK Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team, according to Express.co.uk.
On Thursday, the Treasury’s economic secretary met with a member of the Cabinet Office’s ethics and propriety department. She reportedly greeted the official in her office and responded to inquiries regarding a £10 billion nuclear power plant deal.
According to Express.co.uk, the Treasury Minister claims she is dealing with “trumped-up charges” and “completely politically motivated” accusations.
Tulip faces charges in Bangladesh for allegedly facilitating a corrupt agreement with Russia concerning the power plant.
According to the Times, Tulip’s explanation regarding the Russia deal was taken at face value, and the fact that she called the meeting does not suggest that she is the subject of a civil service investigation.
“The minister has denied any involvement,” the Cabinet Office said.
In her conversation with the PET official, the Labour minister reportedly reiterated her beliefs that she was the victim of a “political hit job.”
Investigators from Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will determine whether to issue first information reports, which would designate Tulip as an official suspect and grant Bangladeshi police the authority to make an arrest, based on her response.
According to the report, none of the appropriate authorities have gotten in touch with Tulip yet.
Along with her mother, Sheikh Rehana Siddiq, 69, and aunt, Sheikh Hasina Wazed, 77, the former prime minister of Bangladesh who was overthrown after 15 years of autocratic rule, the ACC in Bangladesh began its investigation into Tulip, 42, last week.
The ACC was directed by the High Court to look into the allegation that the minister and family members embezzled £4 billion from the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project in the US and the UK using fictitious businesses and Malaysian bank accounts.
Following the allegations, Labour Party officials called them “spurious” and stated that Tulip denied them, adding that no authorities had gotten in touch with her as of yet.
On the other hand, ACC officials told the UK newspaper The Daily Mail on Sunday that a group of five investigators are currently compiling “documentary evidence” about Tulip and other people. To get their answers, they were probably going to write to them in a few weeks.
The ACC is expected to send Tulip a letter requesting that a serving minister of the Crown be the focus of a foreign criminal investigation via the British High Commission in the capital, Dhaka.
