Bangladesh court approves arrest warrant for British ex-minister

DHAKA: A court in Bangladesh has approved an arrest warrant for a British lawmaker over graft allegations tied to the country´s ousted leader Sheikh Hasina, to whom she is related, the public prosecutor told AFP on Monday.

Tulip Siddiq resigned as the UK government´s anti-corruption minister in January, denying any wrongdoing after being named in multiple probes in Bangladesh. She and several family members, including her aunt Hasina, are facing accusations over an alleged land grab of lucrative plots in a suburb of the capital Dhaka. “The accused were absent, and that´s why the court approved the arrest warrant,” Mir Ahmed Ali Salam, the public prosecutor, told AFP.

A senior official at the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) said the warrant for Siddiq was expected to be signed on Tuesday. “The court approved our petition to issue a warrant,” the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“After the papers are signed, we will proceed with further action,” he added. Siddiq has been dogged by claims about her links to Hasina, who fled Bangladesh in August after a student-led protest forced her to step down and flee to India. The British MP´s lawyers said the allegations against her are false. “The ACC has not responded to Ms Siddiq or put any allegations to her directly or through her lawyers,” Stephenson Harwood said in a statement.