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Sir Keir Starmer has turned down a request to meet Bangladesh’s leader during a visit to London aimed at raising support for efforts to recover billions of dollars siphoned off by the deposed regime of Sheikh Hasina.

Interim leader Muhammad Yunus told the Financial Times the UK should feel “morally” obliged to help Bangladesh’s new government track down funds “stolen” by the previous regime, much of it allegedly now in the UK.

However, Yunus said Starmer had not yet agreed to meet him.

“I have no direct conversation with him,” Yunus said, although he added he had “no doubt” Starmer would support Bangladesh’s efforts.

“This is stolen money,” he said of the misappropriated funds.

UK government officials confirmed there was no plan for Starmer to meet Yunus at present, and declined to comment further.

While Yunus said the UK government was already providing assistance in finding the money, he said the UK should feel “legally and . . . morally” obliged to help Bangladesh recover it. The objective of the trip was to bring out “more enthusiastic support” from the UK, he said.

Yunus, a Nobel-prize winning economist, has headed an interim government since a student-led protest movement ousted Sheikh Hasina last August.

Bangladesh’s investigations into the finances of Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League have at times threatened to reflect badly on Starmer’s UK Labour party. 

In January, Tulip Siddiq, then anti-corruption minister and a close ally of Starmer, was forced to stand down after being engulfed in corruption allegations. They related to her receiving material support, including property, from figures connected to the Awami League.

Sheikh Hasina is Siddiq’s aunt. Siddiq has denied any wrongdoing, but resigned her ministerial position.

Siddiq, who remains an MP, asked to meet Yunus in a letter sent this week. She said she wanted to clear up the “misunderstanding” being perpetuated by Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission.

Yunus said he would not meet Siddiq.

“This is a legal issue . . . a legal process,” he said of the investigations into Siddiq’s affairs. “It’s not personal involving me.”

Yunus said that, during the 16 years of Sheikh Hasina’s rule, she turned her “power into an opportunity to grab money” for some relatives and associates.

There had been a “big looting process”, he said.

Bangladesh authorities estimate that around $234bn was siphoned off while Sheikh Hasina was in power and the UK was a prime destination for “stolen” funds.

Yunus named Canada, Singapore, the Caribbean and the Middle East as other destinations for allegedly misappropriated assets.

He said the trip to the UK was “just the beginning” and he was planning further visits. His administration was looking to get support from “all directions” in the UK, including businesses, financial institutions, the police and all intelligence agencies, he added.

“We need the support from the people of Great Britain,” he said.

His team still hoped to meet the prime minister, they said.

The UK’s National Crime Agency last month obtained freezing orders on two London properties owned by the son of an ally of Sheikh Hasina.