Daily Mail reported disgraced City Minister Tulip Siddiq now faces calls to stand down as an MP following a corruption investigation.
The report continued: “Ms Siddiq resigned as Treasury Minister this month after she and family members were accused of siphoning off £3.9billion from Bangladesh through her aunt, the country’s ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina.”
“Ms Siddiq denied the allegations and referred herself to the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards, Sir Laurie Magnus, who concluded Ms Siddiq ‘misled’ the public by denying she had received a King’s Cross flat as a gift, according to the media report.”
However this weekend Tories launched a campaign for her to stand down in Hampstead and Highgate, with a petition tomorrow demanding she face her constituents.
Leaflets referenced a Mail report about her alleged involvement in the £3.9billion embezzlement.
Senior Tory official in Camden David Douglas said she ‘is not the nice little girl everyone thinks she is’.
Ms Siddiq finally quit her Treasury post on January 14, 26 days after the Mail revealed she was facing a major corruption probe in Bangladesh.
The anti-corruption minister and close friend of Sir Keir Starmer resigned after the Labour leader was effectively advised to sack her over her links to her aunt’s regime in Dhaka.
The media quotes Sir Laurie Magnus, the Prime Minister’s ethics adviser, as said that it was ‘regrettable’ that Ms Siddiq had not been more alert to the reputational risks of her family ties to the deposed former prime minister of Bangladesh.
He also described as regrettable her inability to produce conclusive evidence that the tax and funding arrangements for the houses she used that were connected to Sheikh Hasina were ‘in order’.
After Ms Siddiq was accused of lying to The Mail on Sunday about who had gifted her a flat, Sir Laurie said it was ‘unfortunate’ that she had been forced to correct the record.
He concluded that while she had not broken the ministerial code – and he had not ‘identified evidence of improprieties’ – Sir Keir should ‘consider her ongoing responsibilities’ as anti-corruption minister.
Despite Sir Laurie’s damning advice, the PM – a close personal friend and political ally of Ms Siddiq’s – told her that the ‘door remains open for you going forward’ in his reply.
He said he accepted his City minister’s resignation ‘with sadness’ and said that she had made a ‘difficult decision’.
Ms Siddiq’s treatment differs markedly from that of former transport secretary Louise Haigh who quit almost immediately following questions about a fraud conviction.
Last night, the Labour party did not comment.
Bd-Pratidin English/ AM
