Tulip Siddiq: Bangladesh files criminal case against City minister
Bangladeshi authorities have filed a criminal case against under fire City minister Tulip Siddiq, alleging that she has misused her position as a member of parliament to gain undue influence.
She is also accused, along with her aunt the deposed Bangladesh Prime Minister, of having illegally obtained desirable plots of land.
The revelation is the latest – and most serious – in a long line of negative headlines that have plagued the City minister since the end of last year, which all centre around her links to the former ruling party led by her aunt Sheikh Hasina.
Hasina was ousted in August last year after mass protests across the South Asian nation, and is the subject of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) that accused her of “massacres, killings and crimes against humanity”.
Now, the country’s Anti-Corruption Committee (ACC), led by its new interim government, has filed a case against Hasina and her wider family – including Siddiq – over what it claims was a major land grab of lucrative real estate plots.
Akhter Hossain, ACC director general, said: “Sheikh Hasina, in collaboration with some officials, allocated plots for herself and her family members.
“The ACC investigation team has obtained the necessary documents and found sufficient evidence to file the cases.”
In the report outlining the charges, the ACC claims Siddiq – a core part of whose remit is stamping out financial corruption – “became aware” of a deal orchestrated by Hasina that distributed plots of land to her family.
‘Special influence and authority’
It then says that the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate leveraged her “special influence and authority” to arrange similar land allocations for her mother, sister and brother.
It claimed the evidence for the charges was “revealed from various sources”, but did not present more evidence beyond that.
The investigation is the second such case involving Siddiq in just a few months. Late last year, the minister was named by the ACC in a parallel embezzlement probe seeking to establish whether she helped broker a deal between Bangladesh and Russia struck 11 years ago which allegedly saw £1bn siphoned off into private hands.
She is also fighting accusations that her and her family were given London properties with links to Hasina’s Awami League party, all of which has prompted Siddiq to refer herself to the Prime Minister’s ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus.
Quizzed by journalists on when Magnus expects to deliver his initial findings on Tuesday, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “He’s working through it very, very very quickly. You can expect an update shortly.”
“The independent advisor is now considering all the facts in relation to this case. [He] is working through this at pace,” the spokesman added when asked whether an updated would come this month.
The saga has lead several prominent Conservative politicians – including leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch and shadow Chancellor Mel Stride – to call for her resignation.
A spokesman for Tulip Siddiq said: “Tulip has self-reported to the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards to independently establish the facts on these matters.
“She is clear that she has done nothing wrong. It would be inappropriate to comment further while that process is ongoing.”