London: A Dhaka court on Sunday issued an arrest warrant against ex-PM Sheikh Hasina‘s niece and UK Labour MP Tulip Siddiq for allegedly acquiring a 7,200-square-foot plot during her deposed aunt’s tenure in office.
Dhaka metropolitan senior special judge Md Zakir Hossain Galib issued the warrant based on charge sheets filed by Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), which sought to declare Siddiq (42), who resides in London, as a fugitive. The court also issued arrest warrants for 52 others, including Hasina, Siddiq’s mother Rehana, her brother Radwan, and sister Azmina.
The judge set April 27 as the deadline for the implementation of the arrest warrants or the appearance of the accused in court.
ACC DG Md Akhtar Hossain said members of the Hasina family had secretly and illegally acquired six 10-katha plots on Road No 203 in Sector 27 of the diplomatic zone of Purbachal New Town on Dhaka outskirts, with help from senior Rajuk officials, Bangladeshi daily “The Business Standard” reported. Hasina and her family members allegedly took possession of the plots in 2022.
“The arrest warrant would make Ms Siddiq, a sitting Labour MP, an absconding suspect wanted in a foreign criminal investigation. It would also pave the way for Bangladeshi authorities to seek her extradition,” The Daily Mail reported.
There is currently no extradition treaty between the UK and Bangladesh.
Siddiq resigned from her role as the UK’s anti-corruption minister in Jan after it emerged that she was under investigation by ACC.
The court had also issued an arrest warrant against Hasina and her daughter Saima Wazed last Thursday in a separate probe involving other plots in Purbachal New City.
A Conservative Party spokesperson commented, “She should immediately stand down as a Labour MP.”
Siddiq’s lawyers issued a statement saying, “Ms Siddiq knows nothing about a hearing in Dhaka relating to her and has no knowledge of any arrest warrant that is said to have been issued. To be clear, there is no basis at all for any charges to be made against her, and there is absolutely no truth in any allegation that she received a plot of land in Dhaka through illegal means.”
