British Prime Minister Expresses Confidence in Tulip Siddiq
Following alleged accusations in a financial corruption case in Bangladesh against the UK’s Minister for Financial Affairs and Cities, Tulip Siddiq, the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, has expressed his support for her. Speaking at a press conference in London, he stated that he has confidence in Minister Tulip Siddiq. This information was reported by the British news agency Reuters on Monday.
Forty-two-year-old Tulip is responsible for tackling corruption in the UK’s financial sector. She and four members of her family are under investigation in Bangladesh for allegedly embezzling $5 billion from a nuclear power plant project. On Monday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, “I have confidence in Minister for Financial Affairs and Cities, Tulip Siddiq.”
Tulip Siddiq is a member of Britain’s ruling Labour Party, an MP, and the Minister for Financial Affairs and Cities in Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government. She has been accused of mediating a deal in 2013 between Bangladesh and Russia for the construction of a nuclear power plant, where the project cost was allegedly inflated.
Tulip Siddiq has also come under the scope of a wide-ranging investigation launched by Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) against her aunt, the ousted Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and others. Besides Tulip, Sheikh Hasina and her son Sajeeb Wazed are also under investigation in Bangladesh. Earlier, Sajeeb Wazed had dismissed such allegations as false on behalf of the family.
Regarding these accusations, the British Prime Minister said, “Tulip Siddiq has identified herself as an independent advisor and has acted entirely appropriately, as she is currently doing. I have confidence in her, and that is the process that will now proceed.”