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Published : 16 Jun 2025, 01:38 AM
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has once again summoned Tulip Siddiq, the niece of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, to question her in a case that alleges she unlawfully received a flat from Eastern Housing Limited in Dhaka's upscale Gulshan.
This time, the anti-graft watchdog sent summons letters to five of her addresses in Dhaka and alerted local police stations to inform her as well.
On Sunday, notices were sent to five addresses linked to Tulip: one at Janata Housing Society Ltd in Mohammadpur, two each in Dhanmondi and Gulshan, according to ACC Director General Akhtar Hossain.
He said these notices were sent via the respective police stations and registered post.
In addition, ACC officers personally visited the mentioned addresses and posted the notices in visible locations, he added.
In the letters, the national graft buster said it is “necessary to hear and receive” Tulip’s statement in the interest of a fair investigation.
“If you [Tulip] do not appear within the designated time, it will be deemed that you have no statement in this regard,” it added.
Earlier on May 14, the ACC had summoned Tulip. However, she has claimed through multiple channels that she did not receive that summons letter.
On Jun 4, Tulip had written to the interim prime minister requesting a meeting during his four-day trip to the United Kingdom.
She hoped to speak with Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus to clarify what she called “misunderstandings” surrounding the corruption allegations she is facing in Bangladesh.
As part of her invitation, the former UK City minister had offered to host Yunus for lunch or afternoon tea at the House of Commons.
In her letter to Yunus, Tulip wrote: “I hope this meeting will help clear the misunderstanding with the Anti-Corruption Commission in Dhaka, which has prompted questions about me in connection with my aunt, former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.”
The chief advisor kicked off his UK visit on Jun 9. The Chief Advisor’s Office, however, had not issued any formal response to the request.
On Thursday, Yunus visited Westminster and met with House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, but did not respond to Tulip’s invitation.
Earlier, Yunus told the Financial Times (FT) that he would not meet Tulip.
Facing allegations of irregularities and corruption in both the UK and Bangladesh, Tulip stepped down from her post as UK City minister in January amid mounting criticism.
She is a Labour Party MP for Hampstead and Highgate in London.
Tulip, known for her close ties to party leader Keir Starmer, has been accused of accepting flats as gifts from individuals linked to the Awami League.
She denies all “wrongdoing”.
ACC Assistant Director Monirul Islam filed the case over the Gulshan flat naming two RAJUK officials as co-accused alongside Tulip on Apr 15.
According to the anti-graft body, the accused colluded in a “criminal conspiracy, corruption, misconduct and abuse of power” to unlawfully occupy an Eastern Housing Ltd flat in Gulshan without paying any money. The flat was later registered in Tulip's name.
The case also alleges she was assisted in taking ownership through the registry.
On Apr 13, a Dhaka court issued arrest warrants for 53 people, including Hasina, her sister Sheikh Rehana, Rehana’s son Radwan Mujib Siddiq, and her daughters -- British MP Tulip and Azmina Siddiq Ruponti -- in cases related to "abuse of power" involving the allocation of six 0.2-hectare plots in Dhaka’s Purbachal New Town Project.
Though the ACC claims to be conducting an investigation against Tulip based on “evidence”, the Labour MP’s lawyers have alleged that the anti-graft agency is violating the “fundamental right to a fair trial” by failing to present any such evidence or “respond” to efforts to establish contact.
This allegation was raised in a letter from her legal team on Apr 15, in response to an arrest warrant issued against Tulip in a case filed by the ACC over alleged irregularities in the allocation of a plot in Purbachal.
UK-based media outlet The Standard reported that the UK law firm Stephenson Harwood LLP claimed that despite formally requesting documents on Mar 18 through a letter, Bangladeshi authorities have yet to produce “a single piece of credible evidence” concerning Tulip.
