Arrest warrant issued for Tulip Siddiq in Bangladesh

Desk report: A Bangladeshi arrest warrant has been issued for the Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, accusing her of receiving a plot of land illegally from her despot aunt’s government.

The country’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) believes that the former City minister received a 7,200 sq ft plot in the diplomatic zone of the capital, Dhaka, through “abuse of power and influence”.

Siddiq, who resigned from the government in January amid scrutiny of her links to her aunt — the former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina — has been named in three Bangladeshi inquiries.

Hasina’s regime had been accused of serious human rights abuses, before her government was toppled last August in popular protests. Siddiq has denied the charges and accused the Bangladeshi government of a “targeted and baseless” campaign against her. There is no formal extradition treaty between the UK and Bangladesh.

The land case is separate from a £4 billion embezzlement investigation by the ACC into a nuclear deal struck by Hasina, which Siddiq had also been named in. Last month she accused Bangladesh’s ACC of an “unacceptable attempt to interfere with UK politics”.

The ACC petitioned the Bangladeshi courts on March 10, asking for a travel ban to be imposed on Hasina, Siddiq and other family members. On Sunday, Dhaka’s senior special judge issued arrest warrants for Siddiq, other family members including Hasina and Bangladeshi officials.

Metropolitan senior special mudge Md Jakir Hossain, a Bangladeshi official, set April 27 for the implementation of the arrest warrants or appearance of the accused in the court. The prosecutors said the trial would begin if the accused did not appear before a Bangladeshi court and seek bail.

A public prosecutor, Md Omar Faruque, said 47 people had been named in the investigation, including 12 government officials from land and city development authorities. He alleged that the accused — including Siddiq and Hasina — managed the government plot by hiding assets and influencing authorities without following proper procedures.