Conservative Party leader urges UK PM to dismiss Tulip over allegations of corruption
However, Tulip has claimed she has done nothing wrong
Leader of United Kingdom's Conservative Party Kemi Badenoch has urged Prime Minister Keir Starmer to dismiss Treasury Minister Tulip Siddiq over allegations of corruption.
Although PM Starmer had appointed Tulip as the anti-corruption minister, she herself has been accused of massive corruption. It's time to sack her, BBC reported Badenoch as saying.
Badenoch's statement comes after Chief Adviser of the interim government in Bangladesh Prof Yunus told The Sunday Times that Tulip should apologise for the corruption allegations against her, that she benefitted from property linked with her aunt Sheikh Hasina, who is the austed prime minister of Bangladesh.
However, Tulip has claimed she has done nothing wrong.
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In a letter to Sir Laurie Magnus, who polices standards among government ministers, she said: "I am clear that I have done nothing wrong."
Downing Street previously confirmed Sir Laurie would now conduct a "fact-finding" exercise to determine if "further action" was needed, including a further investigation.
Badenoch said Siddiq had become "a distraction when the government should be focused on dealing with the financial problems it has created".
She added: "Now the government of Bangladesh is raising serious concerns about her links to the regime of Sheikh Hasina".
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Bangladesh's leader said that properties used by Siddiq should be investigated and handed back to his government if they were gained through "plain robbery".
Siddiq is economic secretary to the Treasury and responsible for tackling economic crime, money laundering and illicit finance.
The allegations are part of a wider investigation by Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) into Hasina, who was in charge of Bangladesh for more than 20 years, and was seen as an autocrat whose government ruthlessly clamped down on dissent.
Since fleeing the country Sheikh Hasina has been accused of multiple crimes by the new Bangladeshi government.
In her letter to Sir Laurie Magnus following the allegations Siddiq said: "In recent weeks I have been the subject of media reporting, much of it inaccurate, about my financial affairs and my family's links to the former government of Bangladesh."
"I am clear that I have done nothing wrong," she said, adding: "However, for the avoidance of doubt, I would like you to independently establish the facts about these matters.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir told reporters he had confidence in his minister, adding Siddiq had "acted entirely properly" by referring herself for investigation.
