The UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer turned down a request to meet Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus during his visit to London aimed at raising support for efforts to recover billions of dollars siphoned off by the deposed regime of Sheikh Hasina, the Financial Times reports.
Yunus told the British daily that the UK should feel “morally” obliged to help his government track down funds “stolen” by the Awami League-led regime, much of it allegedly now in the UK. However, Yunus said Starmer had not yet agreed to meet him.
Yunus said the objective of his trip to the UK was to bring out “more enthusiastic support” from the UK. Dr Yunus went to the United Kingdom on Tuesday for 4-days official visit, where he is likely to meet the acting Chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Tarique Rahman, on Friday, reports Bangladesh Sanghbad Sangstha (BSS).
Yunus, a Nobel laureate and current head of Bangladesh’s interim government, said the UK had a “legal and… moral” obligation to help track funds allegedly laundered into the country.
“The objective of the trip is to bring out more enthusiastic support,” he said, noting that UK authorities were already providing some assistance.
Yunus has been at the helm since August 2024, when Sheikh Hasina was ousted following a large-scale student protest movement. The former prime minister is now facing multiple legal cases.
The Hasina-era investigations have raised political ripples in the UK too. In January, Tulip Siddiq — then anti-corruption minister and a close ally of Starmer — resigned after being named in corruption allegations involving support from Awami League-linked figures. Siddiq, who is Sheikh Hasina’s niece, denied wrongdoing but stepped down from her ministerial post.