Online Desk  :   Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus has urged Tulip Siddiq, the UK’s economic secretary to the Treasury and the City minister and niece of deposed Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, to apologise for properties her family allegedly received as “gifts” during her aunt’s term. Yunus said Tulip should return the properties if investigations prove that she benefitted from alleged “plain robbery”, according to The Sunday Times. He also noted the need to investigate properties linked to Tulip in the UK as part of corruption and embezzlement probes. Following Yunus’s comments, Kemi Badenoch, leader of the UK’s opposition Conservative Party, called on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to dismiss Tulip from her ministerial role.

Badenoch warned that the issue could intensify into a diplomatic crisis, criticising Starmer’s leadership on integrity. The Anti-Corruption Commission in Bangladesh is already investigating Hasina over allegations of corruption in the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project, where Tulip’s name has also surfaced. Tulip is accused of mediating a deal with Russia in 2013, allegedly embezzling £3.9 billion, equivalent to around Tk 570 billion, through an overpriced contract. Bangladesh’s central bank’s financial crime unit has sought bank account details of seven family members, including Hasina and Tulip.

The British media has also turned its focus on Tulip, especially after the discovery of five houses in London allegedly gifted to or used by Tulip and her family, linked to individuals with ties to Hasina’s Awami League. A spokesperson for Tulip dismissed the allegations, saying: “The suggestion that these properties are linked to her support for the Awami League is entirely false.” As calls for her resignation grow, she has approached the UK government’s Independent Ethics Advisor Sir Laurie Magnus to look into the matter.