Bangladesh’s opposition leader has said he will push for Tulip Siddiq to be extradited after she was embroiled in a corruption scandal.
Bobby Hajjaj, the founder and chairman of the Nationalist Democratic Movement, said that he would urge Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to ask the Hampstead and Highgate MP to “come and face law enforcement”.
Ms Siddiq resigned as anti-corruption minister last week after referring herself to the Prime Minister's ethics tsar when it was revealed she had lived in London homes linked to political allies of her aunt, Sheikh Hasina.
Hasina had ruled Bangladesh as leader of the Awami League party with an iron fist from 1996.
Mr Hajjaj alleged to the Guido Fawkes website that there were cases with “links with Tulip Siddiq herself”, including an investigation into a nuclear power plant deal with Russia.
He said: “Even though Bangladesh and the UK don’t have an official extradition treaty I believe, but there are certain terms and understandings on those terms.
“So from our end we will certainly push for the ACC and law enforcement here to ask for Tulip to come and face law enforcement, or face the courts.”
The Telegraph reports that court documents in Bangladesh also claim Ms Siddiq was “instrumental in managing the affairs and coordinating meetings with Russian government officials”.
Ms Siddiq has said that “no evidence” has been presented on the claims, which she “totally denies”.
Hasina fled Bangladesh in August last year after weeks of protests at her leadership spiralled into nationwide unrest that led to over 1,500 deaths.
She is facing an investigation by an anti-corruption commission in Bangladesh and Ms Siddiq was named last month in an investigation into claims her family embezzled up to £3.9billion from infrastructure spending in the country.
Ms Siddiq resigned as anti-corruption minister last week after Sir Keir Starmer’s ethics adviser found she had inadvertently misled the public.
Sir Keir had faced mounting pressure to sack Ms Siddiq, who was the minister in charge of anti-corruption, amid the independent investigation into her conduct.
In a letter to the PM, Ms Siddiq said though she was found not to have breached the ministerial code, it was clear that her remaining in post would be "a distraction from the work of the government".
