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Former UK City minister Tulip Siddiq has hit back at the Bangladeshi authorities’ claims of financial fraud against her, accusing them of making “false, vexatious and uncorroborated allegations”.
In a letter sent to Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), seen by the Financial Times, Siddiq’s lawyers claim the allegations levelled against her, some of which have led to court charges, have “no substance”.
Siddiq resigned from her ministerial post in January amid political pressure following allegations, first reported by the FT, that she had benefited from properties linked to the Awami League, the party led by her aunt Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s deposed prime minister. She has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
The lawyers of the former minister said the media has been used by the Bangladeshi authorities as a “vehicle to publish allegations” that had “no truth”, and which had not been put to their client.
The methods “are not consistent with a genuine desire to investigate and establish the truth but instead appear to be designed to harm Ms Siddiq’s reputation and interfere with her public service in the UK”, they said.
The letter added that these claims had caused significant and ongoing financial loss to Siddiq, a Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate. People close to Siddiq said this referred to the loss of her ministerial salary.
The ACC, which has powers to prosecute cases, said it had drawn up charges against several members of Hasina’s family, including Siddiq, for securing government land in violation of eligibility rules, bypassing standard allocation procedures.
The agency said in a letter responding to her lawyers: “Siddiq’s claims to have been unaware of the nature of the Hasina regime and that she benefited from the party’s corruption strain credulity.”
It stated that the fact that Siddiq “spent most of her adult life residing in homes owned by cronies of the notoriously venal Awami League [is] prima facie evidence that she has benefited from the systematic corruption of the party led for many years by her aunt, Sheikh Hasina”.
Siddiq’s lawyers, Stephenson Harwood, refer to various news reports, including recent reporting by the FT that Bangladeshi authorities had accused Siddiq of using a fake notary document in a property transfer to her sister, and of using political influence to secure government land.
The letter, first reported by The Times, stated that Siddiq had in fact gifted the property to her sister following her election as an MP in a “legitimately and lawfully made” transfer registered with the Bangladeshi authorities.
“There was no notary fraud involved in the transfer and no obscuring of the real ownership,” her lawyers stated, adding that “not a single piece of evidence is identified in the documents” that were handed to the FT.
The lawyers also rebutted allegations that Siddiq was involved in embezzling about $5bn from an overpriced nuclear power plant, which the ACC claimed had led to Siddiq receiving a £700,000 luxury flat.
They claimed Siddiq had “absolutely no involvement in the agreement between Bangladesh and Russia . . . to construct the Rooppur nuclear power plant”.
At an estimated cost of about $12bn, the power plant is one of the largest infrastructure projects in Bangladesh’s history. The project is being built by Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned nuclear giant.
In January 2013, Siddiq travelled to the Kremlin with Sheikh Hasina as part of a delegation signing a nuclear and arms deal between Bangladesh and Russia.
Siddiq’s lawyers stated that “it is not uncommon for family members to be invited to accompany heads of state on state visits and she visited Moscow in 2013 with her aunt”.
They added that “she was not involved in any official discussions and was not part of any official business involving the two countries”.
The lawyers noted that Sadiq has “no knowledge at all of any alleged financial irregularities or embezzlement relating to the power plant project” and had “not benefited in any way” from the project.
In a statement separate to the letter, Siddiq’s spokesperson said all claims against her were “false, vexatious and uncorroborated” and that her lawyers had told the relevant authorities to stop manufacturing baseless claims against her.
