
Bangladeshi anti-corruption officials give evidence against UK MP Tulip Siddiq
Ms Siddiq, who is Ms Hasina's niece, resigned from her post in Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's Government in January following reports that she lived in London properties linked to her aunt and was named in an anti-corruption investigation in Bangladesh.
The Labour MP represents the north London district of Hampstead and Highgate and served as economic secretary to the Treasury – the minister responsible for tackling financial corruption.
She is being tried together with her mother, Sheikh Rehana, brother Radwan Mujib and sister Azmina.
Ms Siddiq has been charged with facilitating their receipt of state land in a township project near the capital Dhaka.
They are out of the country and being tried in absentia.
Ms Siddiq's lawyers have called the charges baseless and politically motivated.
Muhammad Tariqul Islam, a public prosecutor, disputed a claim by Ms Siddiq that she is not Bangladeshi, saying the anti-corruption watchdog through investigations found that she is a citizen.
The prosecutor said if Ms Siddiq is convicted she could be sentenced to three to 10 years in prison.
Ms Siddiq in an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian recently referred to Bangladesh as 'a foreign country' and called the charges against her 'completely absurd'.
She asserted to The Guardian she was 'collateral damage' in the longstanding feud between her aunt and Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus.
Ms Hasina had a frosty relation with Mr Yunus, and during her rule Mr Yunus faced a number of cases including for graft allegations.
Courts overturned those charges before he took over as interim leader days after Ms Hasina's ousting last year in a student-led uprising.
Separately, the anti-corruption investigation has alleged that Ms Siddiq's family was involved in brokering a 2013 deal with Russia for a nuclear power plant in Bangladesh in which large sums of money were said to have been embezzled.

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Daily Mirror
9 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Mum fined after failing to argue term-time resort holiday was ‘educational'
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Email webtravel@ Despite arguing the trip - which included snorkelling and quad biking - which was an 'education' one because of Egypt's rich history, the school rejected her request to take Oliver out of school. Michelle says she was 'devastated' when she and her husband both received an £80 fine from Wigan Council on 2 July. Local councils can issue a fine of £80 per parent for a child's unauthorised absence from school, including holidays during term time. If parents fail to pay the fine within a 21-day timeframe the amount doubles and if it remains unpaid they may face prosecution. Many teachers and headteachers have publically urged parents to stop taking their children out of school during term-time, as doing so can be so disruptive to a child's education and to the classroom. Michelle has not heeded the calls, instead reacting furiously to the fines. She wrote on social media: "This is just despicable behaviour. Something needs to be done and soon". The mum has now launched a petition calling for council's to be stripped of their fine issuing powers in such instances. A spokesperson for Wigan Council has noted that "parents have a legal duty to ensure their child receives full-time education, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise". Michelle, a driving school company director who lives in Wigan, Greater Manchester, said: "It was really upsetting. I was shocked when I found out it wasn't just £80 and it was £160 even though we're one family unit. I was absolutely devastated that we had to cancel the plans we had made. "The holiday was worth it despite the fine. It was a once in a lifetime trip and it was magical. We certainly couldn't afford to go to Egypt [during the school holidays], maybe Pontins or Haven or something. "We work hard so getting to spend time together as a family was nice and we don't get to do that very often. 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While on the 'educational' holiday they went snorkling, quad biking and had a meal in the desert. Michelle said: "We had to swap his high school because he was bullied. He was still very upset about what had happened. This holiday was to cheer him up about that as well. I feel like the school and the council didn't really take that into consideration. You'd have thought there'd be some sort of lenience there." Like many other parents in state school, Michelle feels it is unfair that she has to fork out so much more for school holiday breaks, when private school families enjoy huge discounts as their terms are much shorter. "What is unfair is the holiday companies charging through the nose so much more money when people need to go during the school holidays. It just makes it impossible for normal people to book nice holidays during the school holidays because it's too expensive," she continued. A Wigan Council spokesperson said: "Parents have a legal duty to ensure their child receives full-time education, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise. Headteachers may only grant a leave of absence during term time if they consider that there are exceptional circumstances, and the Department for Education's statutory guidance, updated in August 2024, reinforces that a holiday is not considered exceptional."


The Independent
38 minutes ago
- The Independent
Reeves says rulings on tax must wait for Budget amid inheritance tax speculation
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The National
an hour ago
- The National
Highlanders have the right to be angry over explosion of wind farms
Quite a result for a never previously convened group of volunteers sitting on powerless community councils. But was it a step back for the green transition, a step forward for local democracy or a bit of both? Five hundred people from 56 community councils – representing almost half the Highland population – gathered to highlight the 1305 wind-related infrastructure projects that are either built or going through planning in the Highlands. No-one's denying that's a small avalanche. The big questions are: who is the energy for? (probably not Scots); who benefits financially? (certainly not Scots); who gets to decide? (absolutely not Scots), and how much does net-exporting Scotland or the energy-hungry UK actually need? (Fa kens). 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SNP MP Graham Leadbitter drew grumbles for sidestepping responsibility, saying planning is a Holyrood matter and the SNP don't run Westminster. True but unhelpful. SNP MSP Maree Todd prompted snorts of exasperation when she said she was furious about the size of local energy bills and fuel poverty. Fine – why did the SNP not support locational pricing then? And her MSP colleague Emma Roddick was almost shouted down after saying she felt as powerless as the audience and declared the main problem is pitifully low levels of community benefit. They certainly are inadequate – but local opposition has moved way beyond that. Tory MSP Edward Mountain received a roar of approval for saying: 'We in the Highlands are being sacrificed on the altar of net zero. And we need to stop energy companies trying to bribe local communities.' It's supremely ironic. THE Tories are getting ready to clean up in Highland seats in 2026, even though the current situation is almost 100% their fault. 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