The former City Minister is likely to have an arrest warrant issued against her today by a Bangladeshi court on charges of corruption, the Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Charge sheets against her and members of her family were submitted to judges in the capital Dhaka by the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) last week.
Today, judges at the Senior Special Judges’ Court are scheduled to examine the charge sheet against Ms Siddiq, 42, and issue an arrest warrant for her.
The court has already issued an arrest warrant against Ms Siddiq’s aunt, Sheikh Hasina Wazed, 77 – the deposed prime minister of Bangladesh – on Thursday on the same corruption investigation.
Hasina’s daughter, Saima Wazed, 52, also had an arrest warrant issued against her at the same hearing.
The charge sheet against Ms Siddiq relates to one of at least three separate investigations against her by the ACC.
In this case, the Commission claims Ms Siddiq used her influence as a British MP to persuade her aunt, Hasina, to allocate three plots of land in an exclusive residential area of Dhaka, for the MP’s mother, Sheikh Rehana, 69, her brother Radwan, 44, and her younger sister, Azmina, 34, all of whom are based in Britain.
Ms Siddiq and her family deny the claims.
Former City Minister Tulip Siddiq is set to have an arrest warrant issued against her today by a Bangladeshi court on charges of corruption
The court has already issued an arrest warrant against Ms Siddiq’s aunt, Sheikh Hasina Wazed (pictured), 77 – the deposed prime minister of Bangladesh – on Thursday on the same corruption investigation
Ms Siddiq resigned as City Minister in January, a month after the Daily Mail revealed that the ACC had launched its first corruption probe into her, accusing her and her family members of embezzling up to £3.9billion from a Russian-built nuclear power plant in Bangladesh
The ACC alleges that after the Labour MP’s pressure, Hasina allocated one plot of land each to Ms Siddiq’s mother and siblings in the Purbachal New Town Project, a 6,213-acre residential development in the north-east of the capital.
The arrest warrant would make Ms Siddiq, a sitting Labour MP, an absconding suspect wanted in a foreign criminal investigation. The warrant would also pave the way for the Bangladeshi authorities to seek the extradition of Ms Siddiq to face charges in her native country.
In total, 16 individuals have had charge sheets submitted against them for corruption relating to the Purbachal project, including six members of Hasina and Ms Siddiq’s family.
Last month, Ms Siddiq’s lawyers sent a letter to the ACC accusing it of launching ‘targeted and baseless’ investigations into her, claiming the corruption allegations against their client are ‘false and vexatious.’
But last week, the head of the ACC, Abdul Momen, said that the Commission will not exchange letters with Ms Siddiq, but let the court deal with the case.
He said: ‘Exchanging letters cannot take the place of a proper court process.
‘A full charge sheet has been prepared after a detailed review of documents. The matter now rests with the court. If she fails to appear after a warrant is issued, she will be treated as a criminal absconder.’
Ms Siddiq resigned as City Minister in January, a month after the Daily Mail revealed that the ACC had launched its first corruption probe into her, accusing her and her family members of embezzling up to £3.9billion from a Russian-built nuclear power plant in Bangladesh. Ms Siddiq strongly denies the claims.
Ms Siddiq has always denied the claims made against her
It then emerged that Ms Siddiq lived in flats in London that were gifted by British political allies of her aunt, Hasina.
An official inquiry into the controversy found that Ms Siddiq may have misled the public when she told the Mail on Sunday in 2022 that a flat owned by her in London’s King’s Cross was bought for her by her parents.
She later admitted it was in fact a gift by a property developer linked to her dictator aunt.
After her resignation as a Minister, the ACC launched the Purbachal investigation, and another probe regarding a flat she owned in Dhaka since 2002.
Ms Siddiq claimed she transferred ownership of the flat to her sister in 2015, shortly after becoming an MP.
But the ACC claims she did not transfer the flat legally, but merely created a fake transfer document without actually changing the deed to the property.
Last month, inquiries by the Mail on Sunday at the Dhaka Sub Registry Office – Bangladesh’s equivalent of Land Registry – showed Ms Siddiq was still the owner.
An official inquiry into the controversy found that Ms Siddiq may have misled the public when she told the Mail on Sunday in 2022 that a flat owned by her in London’s King’s Cross was bought for her by her parents. She is pictured with Kier Starmer in 2015
However, the Labour MP told the MoS she transferred the flat ‘legally and legitimately’ to her sister under Bangladeshi law.
Last night, Ms Siddiq said in a statement through her lawyers: ‘The ACC has made various allegations against Ms Siddiq through the media.
‘The allegations are completely false and have been dealt with in writing by Ms Siddiq’s lawyers.
‘The ACC has not responded to Ms Siddiq or put any allegations to her directly or through her lawyers.
‘Ms Siddiq knows nothing about a hearing in Dhaka relating to her, and there is no basis at all for any charges against her or an arrest warrant.’
