Bangladesh Court seek Interpol Red Notice For UK Lawmaker Siddiq
Dhaka : A court in Bangladesh on Thursday ordered authorities to issue an Interpol red notice against British MP and former minister Tulip Siddiq over allegations of corruption linked to a private real estate project in the capital.
The court issued the decision after the Anti-Corruption Commission submitted a petition seeking international assistance to arrest him. ACC alleges that Siddiqui used his close family ties with former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to influence the allocation of state land to a private company.
Siddiqui, Hasina’s nephew, has repeatedly denied the allegations, calling previous decisions against him “flawed and absurd”. He also said that he is a British citizen and not a Bangladeshi citizen.
He did not immediately respond to email requests for comment and there was no immediate reaction from him following the latest court decision.
HE WAS SENTENCED TO 6 YEARS OF PRISON
Bangladeshi courts have already sentenced Siddiq to a total of six years in prison in three separate corruption cases, all related to allegations of abuse of influence during Hasina’s time in office.
Siddiq resigned from his post as economics secretary to the Treasury under Prime Minister Keir Starmer in January last year, citing increasing political pressure over his links to Hasina, but he insisted he had been cleared of wrongdoing.
The UK does not have an extradition agreement with Bangladesh.
Hasina was ousted in 2024 after a mass uprising led by students that ended her 15-year rule. He fled to neighboring India at the height of the protests in August and has remained there ever since. He was later sentenced to death by a Bangladesh court for his government’s violent crackdown on demonstrators.
Following Hasina’s ouster, Nobel laureate Muhammad Younis led an interim administration to oversee elections to be held on February 12, followed by a new government headed by Prime Minister Tariq Rahman, son of Hasina’s arch-rival and former prime minister Khaleda Zia.
