Former minister Tulip Siddiq has said there is “no evidence” she has done anything wrong after Bangladesh issued a warrant for her arrest.
Ms Siddiq told reporters outside her home that she is the “victim of a politically motivated smear campaign”.
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Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) sought the warrant over allegations Ms Siddiq received a 7,200sq ft plot of land in the country’s capital, Dhaka.
Ms Siddiq’s lawyers on Sunday told Sky News the allegations are “completely false”, adding there was “no basis at all for any charges to be made against her”.
On Monday, Ms Siddiq said no one from the Bangladeshi authorities has contacted her and said she was facing a “trial by media”.
“I can’t dignify this politically motivated smear campaign with any comment,” she said, alleging authorities are “trying to harass me”.
There is “no evidence I’ve done anything wrong”, she added.
Ms Siddiq is the niece of Bangladesh’s former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who was deposed last summer following an uprising against her 20-year leadership.
Image: Sheikh Hasina pictured in 2023. Pic: AP/ Yomiuri Shimbun
The Labour MP resigned as a Treasury minister earlier this year following an investigation by the prime minister’s ethics adviser into her links to her aunt’s Awami League administration, which is facing corruption allegations in Bangladesh.
Ms Siddiq was not found to have breached the ministerial code.
However, the prime minister’s ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus said it was “regrettable” she was not more “alert to the potential reputational risks” arising from her close family’s association with Bangladesh.
At the time, Sir Keir Starmer praised Ms Siddiq for making the “difficult decision” to resign and said “the door remains open for you” going forward.
Asked if there could be a way back for her following the latest developments, the prime minister’s official spokesman today said: “We don’t comment on individual legal cases.”
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0:38 Tulip Siddiq’s lawyers ‘are ready’
Ms Siddiq has been an MP since 2015 and is probably best known for campaigning for the release of her constituent Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe, who was detained in Iran for six years.
She came under pressure over her links to her aunt at the beginning of the year but has consistently denied wrongdoing.
Ms Siddiq has also faced questions over properties in London she has lived in or lives in which are allegedly linked to her aunt’s allies.
A Conservative Party spokesman said Ms Siddiq “should immediately stand down as a Labour MP” if she is the subject of an arrest warrant in Bangladesh.
