The British minister responsible for financial services and combating corruption has resigned following weeks of scrutiny over her financial connections to her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, the ousted prime minister of Bangladesh.
Tulip Siddiq, 42, consistently denied any wrongdoing, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer had expressed full confidence in her last week.
Her resignation on Tuesday marks the second ministerial departure in two months, a setback for Starmer, whose approval ratings have dropped since his Labour Party’s victory in the general election last July.
In her resignation letter to the prime minister, Siddiq reiterated her innocence but acknowledged that remaining in her Treasury role could become a “distraction from the work of the government.”
Starmer accepted her resignation with “sadness,” thanking her for her service and emphasizing that “no evidence of financial improprieties” had been found against her.
“I appreciate the difficult decision you have made to step down in order to avoid ongoing distractions from our agenda to change Britain. The door remains open for you going forward,” Starmer added.
Siddiq, who was appointed to oversee financial services policy after the election, was responsible for measures against money laundering.
Starmer quickly appointed Emma Reynolds, a former pensions minister, to take over Siddiq’s responsibilities.
Sheikh Hasina, who led Bangladesh from 2009 until she was ousted, is under investigation in her home country for corruption and money laundering. Both Hasina and her party deny any wrongdoing.
Siddiq was named in December as part of the Bangladeshi investigation into whether her family was involved in embezzling funds from infrastructure projects in Bangladesh.
The country’s anticorruption commission has raised concerns about billions of dollars in alleged financial irregularities related to a $12.65bn nuclear power contract, suggesting that Hasina and Siddiq may have profited.
Siddiq also faced questions about properties in the UK linked to Hasina and her associates.
Documents obtained by Reuters indicated that Siddiq lived in a north London property provided to her family in 2009 by Moin Ghani, a Bangladeshi lawyer who has represented Hasina’s government.
Additionally, Siddiq reportedly acquired another property in London in 2004, allegedly without paying for it, from a developer with ties to Hasina’s political party, the Awami League.
Hasina fled Bangladesh to India after being ousted following weeks of protests.
Siddiq’s resignation follows that of British transport minister Louise Haigh, who stepped down late last year after acknowledging a minor criminal offense related to a mobile phone she had wrongly reported as stolen.
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