British minister Tulip Siddiq resigns following Bangladesh graft probe

Anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq has resigned from the UK government after being named in graft probes in Bangladesh launched when her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, was ousted as the country's leader.

In a letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday, Siddiq repeated she had done nothing wrong but said continuing in office would likely "be a distraction from the work of the government".

Siddiq, 42, has been dogged by claims about her links to Hasina, who fled Bangladesh in August after a student-led uprising against her decades-long, increasingly authoritarian tenure as prime minister.

Hasina, 77, has defied extradition requests to face Bangladeshi charges including of mass murder.

On Monday, Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission announced she and her family members, including Siddiq, were subject to another graft probe, this time over an alleged land grab of lucrative plots in a suburb of the capital Dhaka.

Family members including Siddiq had already emerged as named targets of the commission's investigation into accusations of embezzlement of $5 billion connected to a nuclear power plant.

Bangladeshi money laundering investigators have since ordered the country's big banks to hand over details of transactions relating to Siddiq as part of the probe.

In her letter of resignation, Siddiq claimed her "family connections were a matter of public record" and that she had acted with "full transparency".

She insisted her "loyalty is and always will be" to the Labour government and the "programme of national renewal and transformation it has embarked upon".

"I have therefore decided to resign from my ministerial position."

Several London properties

Starmer thanked Siddiq for her work and said: "I appreciate that to end ongoing distraction from delivering our agenda to change Britain, you have made a difficult decision and want to be clear that the door remains open for you going forward.

Siddiq is an MP for a north London constituency whose ministerial job was part of the finance ministry and responsible for the UK's financial services sector as well as anti-corruption measures.

Over the weekend, a Sunday Times investigation revealed details about the claims that she spent years living in a London flat bought by an offshore company connected to two Bangladeshi businessmen.

The flat was eventually transferred as a gift to a Bangladeshi lawyer with links to Hasina, her family and her ousted government, according to the newspaper.

It also reported Siddiq and her family were given or used several other London properties bought by members or associates of the Awami League party.

Starmer swiftly appointed Emma Reynolds, who was a pensions minister, to Siddiq's role.

Reynolds, 47, was elected to office at the 2024 national election, which saw the Labour Party regain power after 14 years in opposition.

She currently represents the Wycombe constituency in southern England and previously served as a lawmaker for a different seat in central England between 2010 and 2019.