Arrest warrant issued in Bangladesh for UK MP Tulip Siddiq

DHAKA: An arrest warrant for the former City minister Tulip Siddiq has been issued in Bangladesh with a new allegation accusing her of illegally receiving a plot of land from her aunt, the ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Bangladeshi media reported the warrant was issued by a judge for 53 people connected to Hasina, including Siddiq. There is no formal extradition treaty between the UK and Bangladesh.

Siddiq’s representative said there was “no basis at all for any charges to be made against her, and there is absolutely no truth in any allegation that she received a plot of land in Dhaka through illegal means”.

The MP for Hampstead and Highgate has denied allegations of corruption linked to her aunt’s collapsed regime and accused the Bangladeshi authorities of a “targeted and baseless” campaign against her.

Siddiq resigned in January as economic secretary to the Treasury, citing the risk of becoming a distraction and saying the government was being harmed by the furore over her use of properties given to herself and her family by allies of the regime of Hasina.

She was not deemed by Keir Starmer’s ethics adviser to have broken any rules over her use of the homes and he found no evidence to suggest that any of Siddiq’s assets were derived from anything other than legitimate means.

But Laurie Magnus did find a lack of records and said lapse of time meant he had “not been able to obtain comprehensive comfort in relation to all the UK property-related matters”.