Tulip Siddiq hit with court-ordered travel ban

Telegraph

19-03-2025

A Bangladeshi court has issued a travel ban on Tulip Siddiq, the former Treasury minister.
The court also ordered the seizure of a flat in Dhaka previously owned by the Labour MP before she transferred it to her sister.
The court order comes as part of an investigation into alleged corruption involving Sheik Hasina, Ms Siddiq's aunt and a former prime minister of Bangladesh.
It has been alleged that Ms Hasina and her family misappropriated billions of pounds of state money, something they deny.
Ms Siddiq, who resigned from the UK Government in January amid scrutiny of her links to Ms Hasina, has been named in three Bangladeshi inquiries.
The most serious accuses Ms Hasina and family members including Ms Siddiq of involvement in the embezzlement of £4 billion from a nuclear power plant deal with Russia.
On Tuesday, however, Ms Siddiq accused the Bangladeshi government of a 'targeted and baseless' campaign against her, and asked why it had briefed the media but not put its allegations to her directly.
In a letter, she accused Bangladesh's anti-corruption commission (ACC) of an 'unacceptable attempt to interfere with UK politics'.
A spokesman told The Telegraph on Ms Siddiq's behalf: 'If any legitimate authority in Bangladesh has any credible allegations against Tulip Siddiq they should contact her lawyers, not talk to the press.'
Courts petitioned
The ACC petitioned the Bangladeshi courts on March 10, asking for a travel ban to be imposed on Ms Hasina, Ms Siddiq and other members of their family.
It also requested the seizure of Ms Siddiq's former flat on the second floor of a building in Gulshan Residential Model Town, which she transferred to her sister in June 2015.
Zakir Hossain Galib, a Dhaka metropolitan senior special judge, issued the order to seize it.
'The petition was allowed in the interest of the fair investigation and the immovable assets described in the petition have been attached,' said Mr Galib in his order, a copy of which The Telegraph has obtained.
The court order tells the city's deputy commissioner that the 'attached immovable property cannot be transferred/exchanged under any circumstances while the attachment order is in force'.
The ACC accused Ms Siddiq of illegally acquiring the 2,436 sq flat and then using forged signatures in an attempt to transfer it to her sister, Azmina Siddiq Ruponti.
It alleges that Ms Siddiq's sister took possession of the flat without formally assuming ownership, meaning that both sisters could become eligible for a 10-katha (7,260 sq ft) plot in the Purbachal New Town Project. They both obtained plots, it is understood.
The MP denies owning property in Bangladesh and maintains that the property was transferred legally to her sister when she became an MP in 2015.
'The transfer was done in accordance with all legal requirements in Bangladesh and Tulip has all the necessary documents to that effect,' a spokesman for Ms Siddiq said.
Under Bangladesh's Allotment of Land rules, applicants for the scheme must not own any residential property or land in Dhaka.
Seeking to have the flat seized, the ACC argued that members of Ms Hasina's family including Ms Siddiq were attempting to transfer or conceal their assets.
Monirul Islam, the ACC deputy director, told the court: 'The accused individuals were seeking to transfer, relocate, or misappropriate their immovable assets.
'To ensure a fair investigation, it is necessary to prevent them from disposing of these properties until the inquiry is completed.'
Travel ban 'necessary'
The ACC filed a separate petition saying a travel ban on Ms Siddiq and family members including Ms Hasina was 'absolutely necessary' for a fair investigation of the allegations, and the court directed police to ensure such a ban was imposed.
An ACC official told The Telegraph that Ms Siddiq would not be allowed to leave Bangladesh if she entered the country.
Ms Siddiq, whose short-lived stint as Treasury minister included combating corruption, referred herself to the Prime Minister's standards adviser in January, after weeks of questions over her use of properties in London linked to her aunt's political party.
A spokesman for Ms Siddiq said: 'Following a series of false, vexatious and uncorroborated allegations fed to the media, Tulip Siddiq's lawyers have told the relevant authorities in Bangladesh to stop manufacturing baseless claims against her and to make direct contact with her lawyers if they have any legitimate questions for Ms Siddiq.'
When she resigned in January, she referred herself to the Prime Minister's ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, who said in his report that he had 'not identified evidence of improprieties'.
He added that it was 'regrettable' the MP had not been more alert to the 'potential reputational risks' of her ties to her aunt.
Ms Hasina, 77, the longest-serving prime minister of Bangladesh, is now in India, having been ousted last August following a brutal response to protests.
It is alleged that opponents were attacked, arrested and secretly imprisoned as the regime carried out extrajudicial killings during her premiership.