Published :
Updated :
For all latest news, follow The Financial Express Google News channel.
Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), on Wednesday, issued a detailed response to concerns raised over the trial and sentencing of Tulip Siddiq, the daughter of Sheikh Rehana and niece of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, insisting that her conviction was grounded in extensive evidence and lawful process.
The ACC said it had reviewed prosecution files relating to three corruption cases against Siddiq, including one that has already resulted in a guilty verdict. All three involve plots of land allocated in Dhaka during Hasina’s tenure, allegedly in the names of Siddiq, her mother and other family members. One case documents that Siddiq herself received a Gulshan plot — a prime residential area where land values are among the highest in the capital.
In Special Case No. 18/2025, the first to conclude, prosecutors argued Siddiq played a central role in influencing her aunt, then head of government, to secure land allotments for her relatives. Thirty-two witnesses appeared for the state, several testifying that Siddiq used her proximity to Hasina to secure preferential access to government-owned land earmarked for public housing.
According to the ACC, these witness statements — supported by documentation of multiple allotments linked to Siddiq’s immediate family — amounted to “clear evidence of abetment and influence”. The charges were brought under several sections of the Penal Code, alongside provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1947.
The properties at the heart of the case, the commission said, were not agricultural plots or disputed peripheral holdings but sizeable pieces of high-value real estate in Gulshan-2. Such lands, it argued, could accommodate luxury residences or compact apartment blocks, contradicting their original allocation purpose of easing residential pressure in Dhaka.
The ACC further said Siddiq has been connected to five properties in London purchased through offshore channels, adding that the case raises “a fundamental question of how political families amass such wealth across continents”.
Siddiq did not appear before the court and was tried in absentia. The commission disputed claims that she was denied the opportunity to defend herself, saying she was given the option to appear or appoint counsel but declined.
“Taken together, the evidence demonstrates continued abetment of corruption,” the statement concluded. “There is no basis to suggest Ms Siddiq was uninvolved or innocent.”
Siddiq, a prominent member of the Hasina family, has not publicly responded in detail to the findings. Human rights organisations and members of the international press have questioned aspects of the proceedings, including the use of in-absentia trials, though the ACC maintains that due process was followed.