Tulip Siddiqui, 43, the niece of ousted Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed, who was forced to resign as a minister in the British government due to corruption allegations against her by the current regime in Dhaka, is taking “legal advice” to sue the Bangladeshi authorities, according to a person close to her.
Siddiq, a three-time British Labor Party MP, was convicted by a Dhaka court last month of irregularly obtaining a plot of land for her family near the Bangladeshi capital.
Her lawyer Stephenson Harwood warned the Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) that she “reserves her full rights” regarding the “false and scandalous allegations made by the ACC and the damages she has suffered”. He described the campaign against her as “unlawful” and aimed at “tarnishing Miss Siddiq’s reputation and interfering with her public service”.
ACC Chairman Mohammed Abdul Momen told the BBC on record that his commission’s investigation was “based on documentary evidence of corruption”. However, one of the ACC prosecutors who briefed the news media after the court’s verdict against Siddiq said that some individuals had implicated Siddiq based on hearsay. In fact, contrary to Momen’s claim, no documentary evidence was presented against Siddiq; And there was apparently no explanation as to whether the statements cited were verified for admissibility or not.
According to Siddiq’s lawyers, the ACC media note sent to “a British journalist” on 4 February (2025) said, “Allegations have been made that US$5 billion was embezzled from the overpriced Rooppur nuclear power plant project (awarded to a Russian company) through various offshore bank accounts in Malaysia, involving former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her son Sajib Ahmad Wajed Joy and her niece Tulip Siddiq.” It added: “Allegedly, (Ms Siddiq) received a luxury flat worth £700,000 as part of a scheme to embezzle funds from various infrastructure projects, including the Rooppur nuclear power plant.”
Stephenson Harwood told ACC: “The first thing to note about the ACC media note is that it appears to be based largely on “allegations” and “reports”, but does not identify who, where and when made such allegations and reports.”
He insisted: “He had no involvement in the agreement between Bangladesh and Russia for Rosatom (a Russian corporation) to build the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant… He has not received a flat worth (UK) £700,000 in the UK or indeed any property connected in any way with the power plant project.”
He said: “It is true that a property located in King’s Cross (London) was gifted to her in 2004. However, this was about 10 years before the agreement between Bangladesh and Russia to build the power plant… What’s more, you may be aware that Sheikh Hasina was not even the Prime Minister of Bangladesh in 2004.”
Siddiq declared the gifts in the Register of MPs’ Financial Interests, as required by members of the UK House of Commons.
Siddiq revealed that the donor of the property was Abdul Motalif, understood to have purchased it in 2001 for UK £195,000. Motalif gave a Muslim blessing at her marriage to Christian Percy, a strategy advisor who worked in the British Foreign Office.
On 14 January 2025, Siddiq left the post of Economic Secretary to the Treasury in the British Government. Acknowledging his resignation with “sadness”, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the independent adviser on ministerial standards, Sir Laurie Magnus, had assured him that “he found no breaches of the ministerial code and no evidence of financial irregularities on (his) part”.
However, on 13 April 2025, the ACC issued an arrest warrant against him in a probe into land allegedly illegally allotted to his family in Dhaka. They were ordered to comply by 27 April. ACC threatened him with an Interpol red notice if he did not do so.
On 15 April, Stephenson Harwood wrote to Momen describing the ACC’s attitude as “extraordinary and completely inconsistent with due process and fair play… without any contact with Ms Siddiq or her lawyers”. “Such behavior is a clear violation of international norms and reflects how Ms Siddiq will be treated by the ACC and Bangladesh authorities,” it said.
The law firm added, “We request that you immediately provide us with a copy of the arrest warrant and all supporting information and evidence placed before the court, including full details of the allegations against our client… as well as the “documentary evidence of corruption” you claim to have.” ACC has not responded to any correspondence from Stephenson Harwood.
MP Emily Thornberry, chair of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, asked Bangladeshi High Commissioner to Britain Abida Islam for the address of the Bangladesh court that had summoned Siddiq. Islam is said to have told Thornberry she would send details. The latter had not yet received the information.
On 24 November, senior British barristers – Geoffrey Robertson, a leading human rights lawyer, Cherie Blair, wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, former Conservative Party cabinet ministers, Dominic Grieve, Sir Robert Buckland and David Gauke, and Professor Philip Sands of University College London – expressed “deep concerns” to Abida Islam about the proceedings against Siddiq. “It is a fundamental principle of justice that every person accused of a crime is entitled to know the charges against him and the evidence,” he said.
Yet on December 1, Siddiq was found guilty of influencing his aunt to allot land to his mother – Hasina’s younger sister Sheikh Rehana Siddiq – in his absence. Tulip was sentenced to two years in prison.
Following the verdict, ACC prosecutors met with journalists and briefed them on the evidence that was presented to secure Siddiq’s conviction. A journalist asked, “Are you saying that Tulip Siddiqui sent WhatsApp messages?” A prosecutor replied, “No. Mr. Usman Ghani and (Iqbal) Hussain, they deposed before the magistrate that Tulip Siddiq had communicated with Mr. Salahuddin (Ahmed), private secretary to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and they (Siddiq) instigated, instigated, they pressured her mother, sister and brother to give her the allotment.”
Journalist: “How did he create these messages?” Prosecutor: “They were there and they heard it.”
Journalist: “Are you saying these were face-to-face meetings or WhatsApp messages?” Prosecutor: “Telephone or any other apps; he said he communicated with Tulip Siddiq.”
Journalist: “Do you have any screenshots of WhatsApp messages?” Prosecutor: “No, we don’t have any screenshots.”
Journalist: “When were these messages sent?” Prosecutor: “This has been heard by Usman Ghani and Iqbal Hussain who were very close to Mr Salahuddin Ahmed and Mr Salahuddin Ahmed was very close to Tulip Siddiq, Sheikh Rehana and Sheikh Hasina and other members of the family.”
When asked about Usman Ghani and Iqbal Hussain, who testified against her in court, Siddiq said it was an irony that she had no idea who they were and that she had never met anyone named Osman Ghani or Iqbal Hussain.
Regarding Salauddin Ahmed, he believes that he was Hasina’s personal secretary and may have once been in the same room with her; But added that if she wanted to contact her aunt, she would message her directly – there would be no need for her to go to her staff or her personal secretary.
The British Labor Party responded: “Any person facing any charge should always be given the right to have legal representation when the charges are brought against them. Given that this has not happened in this case, we cannot recognize this decision.”
In May 2025, it was reported by the UK’s Guardian newspaper that the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), the country’s serious and organized crime agency, had seized assets worth around £400 million in Britain allegedly owned by Hasina’s associates. According to the Financial Times, these also include a property in London where Rehana is living without rent. The Guardian asserted: “There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Siddiq (presumably Rehana), who is understood to have recused himself from any policymaking related to Bangladesh.” Rehana is now in India.
On 4 June, Tulip Siddiq wrote to the then and still de facto Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Professor Muhammad Yunus – who was visiting London – inviting him to “lunch or afternoon tea in the House of Commons”. He said, “I have always been interested in your landmark work on economic and social development.”
He then added, “A meeting may also help in clearing the misunderstanding created by the Anti-Corruption Commission in Dhaka, to which I have to answer questions regarding my mother’s sister, former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina.” She stressed, “I have no property and no business interests in Bangladesh. This country is dear to my heart but it is not the country where I was born, live or where I have built my career.”
BBC quoted Younes as saying, “He (Siddiq) has asked to meet you when you are here (in London). Will you meet him?”
Yunus replied, “No, I am not (going to meet him) because it is a legal process. I do not want to hinder the legal process. Let the process continue.”
High Commissioner Abida Islam reiterated what she had told British media, that Siddiq “falsely claimed that she was never sent any summons, charge sheet or correspondence… Ms. Siddiq was prosecuted as a Bangladeshi citizen, who is a British citizen… All official documents relating to the case in question were sent to her Bangladeshi address on record, as required by law.”
