Bangladesh issues arrest warrant against UK MP Tulip Siddiq, Sheikh Hasina’s niece, in corruption case | World News
A judge in Bangladesh has issued an arrest warrant for British MP Tulip Siddiq, niece of former prime miner Sheikh Hasina, in connection with a corruption case involving state-owned land, according to a report Prothom Alo, as cited The Associated Press (AP).
The warrant was issued on Sunday Senior Special Judge Zakir Hossain of the Dhaka Metropolitan Court. It relates to three cases filed Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission, AP reported. The commission claims Siddiq, along with over 50 others—including her mother, Sheikh Rehana, and brother, Radwan Siddiq—illegally received land in a government housing project near Dhaka.
Siddiq, 42, who represents Hampstead and Highgate in the UK Parliament and previously served as economic secretary to the Treasury under the Labour government, has denied any wrongdoing.
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“This is a completely politically motivated smear campaign, trying to harass me,” Siddiq told reporters in London, as quoted AP. “There is no evidence that I’ve done anything wrong.”
Her legal team also dismissed the accusations. “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,” her lawyers at Stephenson Harwood said in a statement, according to AP.
Siddiq stepped down from her minerial post in January after her name came up in a wider anti-corruption investigation involving her aunt, Sheikh Hasina. The probe also looked into a 2013 nuclear power plant deal with Russia, alleging that large sums of money were embezzled. At the time, Siddiq said she had been cleared of wrongdoing but decided to resign because the case was becoming “a draction from the work of the government,” AP reported.
Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s longest-serving leader, was ousted from power in August last year following mass protests. She has since taken refuge in India. The Bangladesh Awami League, her party, says the charges against her family are politically driven and aimed at damaging their legacy.Story continues below this ad
Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, is considered the founding father of Bangladesh, leading the country to independence in 1971.
After Hasina’s removal from office on 5 August, her ser Rehana’s home in Dhaka’s upscale Gulshan area was reportedly looted and vandalised. No police case has been regered so far. Hasina has accused Bangladesh’s interim government, led Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, of encouraging attacks on her supporters. The home affairs adviser says authorities are working to restore peace and order across the country.
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