DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Authorities in Bangladesh’s capital received judicial orders Thursday to pursue an Interpol red notice targeting a British parliamentarian facing corruption allegations tied to a private property development.
British MP Tulip Siddiq, who represents Hampstead and Highgate in London and previously held a ministerial position, now confronts corruption accusations from Bangladesh’s Anti-corruption Commission related to a real estate matter.
The lawmaker has already received a six-year prison sentence in Bangladesh across three separate corruption proceedings, all connected to her influential relative, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Student-led protests forced Hasina from power in 2024, ending her decade-and-a-half reign, with the former leader fleeing to India on Aug. 5, 2024.
Siddiq has dismissed all accusations against her, calling the court decisions a “complete farce,” while emphasizing her British citizenship rather than Bangladeshi nationality.
According to the commission, Siddiq leveraged her relationship with Hasina to sway the land allocation process for a private developer in Dhaka’s prestigious Gulshan district. The MP is Sheikh Hasina’s niece, being the daughter of Hasina’s sister Sheikh Rehana.
Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Mohammed Sabbir Faiz granted the directive Thursday following a request from the anti-corruption agency.
The judicial decision followed Assistant Director A.K.M. Mortuza Ali Sagar’s application seeking the red notice through Interpol channels to enable Siddiq’s detention.
Siddiq had not responded to the Thursday developments by press time.
Last January, Siddiq stepped down from her role as a minister in Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s administration due to mounting pressure over her connections to Hasina. While stating she had been exonerated of any misconduct, Siddiq left her position as economic secretary to the Treasury, explaining the controversy had become “a distraction from the work of the government.”
Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus assumed interim leadership three days following Hasina’s removal and supervised elections held on Feb. 12. The current administration under Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, whose father was Hasina’s primary political opponent and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, has now assumed control.
