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The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has summoned British MP 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 Gulshan area.
The anti-graft watchdog asked her to appear at the ACC headquarters at 10am on May 14 in a case that the commission filed on Apr 15, reports bdnews24.com.
ACC spokesperson Akhtarul Islam said notices were sent to Tulip's addresses in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi and Gulshan-2 on May 6.
According to the ACC, 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, according to the ACC. The flat was later registered in Tulip's name.
The case also alleges she was assisted in taking ownership through the registry.
On Thursday, the ACC said it is “necessary to hear and receive” Tulip’s statement in the interest of a fair investigation.
“If you [Tulip] do not appear, it will be deemed that you have no statement in this regard,” it added.
ACC Assistant Director Monirul Islam filed the case naming two RAJUK officials, besides Tulip -- assistant legal advisors, Shah Md Khosruzzaman and Sardar Mosharraf Hossain, as co-accused.
On Apr 13, a Dhaka court issued arrest warrants for 53 people, including ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her sister Sheikh Rehana, Rehana’s son Radwan Mujib Siddiq, and her daughters -- British MP Tulip Siddiq 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.
Tulip is the MP for the Hampstead and Highgate constituency in the UK capital, London.
She stepped down from her post as minister of state for the UK's finance ministry in January amid criticism after allegations of irregularities and corruption against her surfaced in Bangladesh and the UK.
However, her lawyer dismissed the ACC’s allegations against her as “entirely false” and politically motivated.
On Apr 14, she told UK journalists: “There is no evidence that I have done anything wrong.”
She claimed to be a “victim of politically motivated propaganda” by the Bangladesh government.
When bdnews24.com reached out for Tulip’s comment on the matter, a spokesman on her behalf said: “If this is a serious process and not a political smear campaign, why won’t the ACC engage with Tulip’s lawyers who have written to them twice over the last few weeks?
“She is a UK citizen, born and living in London and representing her constituents in the British Parliament.
“She is yet to hear anything officially, but they know where to reach her – and that’s clearly not in Dhaka.”