Back to the curious case of Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, who has now had an arrest warrant issued against her in Bangladesh over alleged corruption charges. The warrant was issued by a judge in Dhaka on Sunday after the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) last week submitted a criminal charge sheet against the politician – who was until recently, um, Labour’s anti-corruption minister. The jokes write themselves…
In one of at least three investigations against the Hampstead and Highgate MP, Bangladesh’s ACC has accused Siddiq of putting pressure on her aunt Sheikh Hasina – the country’s recently-deposed prime minister – to give plots of land in a Dhaka residential development to three of the parliamentarian’s family members. Hasina allocated land to Siddiq’s mother, brother and sister, all of whom are British citizens living in London. The Labour politician has been given until 27 April to appear before the court and seek bail, while non-attendance may prompt the Bangladeshi authorities to seek her extradition from Britain. Crikey!
Siddiq resigned from her government post as City minister in January after pressure piled on the parliamentarian over her links to her aunt and former authoritarian premier of Bangladesh, Hasina. The move came after it emerged in December that the ACC had launched an investigation into the politician over accusations she helped Hasina siphon off large sums of money intended for eight infrastructure projects. It also transpired that Siddiq had been interviewed by the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team over the allegations she helped her aunt broker a deal with Russia and embezzle up to £3.9 billion from a nuclear energy project in Bangladesh – while the Labour MP continued to deny the allegations.
Then in January, Siddiq was outed for owning a £700,000 London flat, given to her for free by a political ally of her aunt. A subsequent probe by Sir Laurie Magnus found Siddiq ‘misled’ the public over her flat, with the ethics adviser concluding it was ‘regrettable [Siddiq] was not more alert to the potential repetitional risks arising from her close family’s association with Bangladesh’. For her part, the Labour MP’s lawyers say that ‘there is no basis at all for any charges to be made against her’, adding:
She has never had a plot of land in Bangladesh, and she has never influenced any allocation of plots of land to her family members or anyone else. No evidence has been provided by the ACC to support this or any other allegations made against Ms Siddiq. It is clear to us the charges are politically motivated.
How curious. Will Siddiq respond to the latest development in the case against her? Stay tuned…
Comments