>Dhaka, 12 January
Mohammad Yunus, Chief Advisor to the Interim Government of Bangladesh, has demanded an investigation into the properties of British Minister Tulip Siddiqui and her family. Yunus hinted that Siddiqui may have illegally built the property during his aunt Sheikh Hasina’s tenure as Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
In an interview with The Times newspaper, Yunus denounced the use of properties gifted to Siddiqui and his family by ‘associates of his aunt’s dethroned regime’. They demanded that their property be returned to Bangladesh if it is proved that Tulip has ‘directly benefited’. Accusing the previous government of manipulating money through fraud, Yunus said, “This is pure robbery.”
Tulip Siddiqui, a member of the British Labor Cabinet, serves as Minister for Economic Affairs, responsible for tackling corruption in the UK’s financial markets.
A day after Yunus’s interview was published, a British newspaper published another report titled, “UK PM demanded to sack Tulip Siddiqui after Bangladeshi leader lashed out.”
“The anti-corruption minister is facing pressure to resign as Bangladesh’s leader criticizes him for using assets gifted to him and his family by Bangladesh’s former regime,” the report said. “
Yunus’s intervention came after a Sunday Times investigation found that Siddiqui spent years living in a property in Hampstead, which was bought by an offshore company named in the Panama Papers and linked to two Bangladeshi businessmen. .
Referring to the report, Yunus said, “They have shown how money is stolen but it is not theft, when you steal you hide it. This is a robbery.”
Yunus said that if possible, properties bought by Awami League allies should be returned to Bangladesh.
The National Crime Agency, Britain’s equivalent of the FBI, has signaled its willingness to help Bangladesh recover some of the assets, according to the Sunday Times. -News-Patiala
