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Stephenson Harwood, a law firm representing UK MP Tulip Siddiq, has written to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) calling for the graft watchdog to close the case it has filed against her.
Referring to letters sent to the ACC chairman and commissioners on Mar 18 and Apr 15, the firm wrote in a letter on Monday:
“As we made clear in our letters, Ms Siddiq has been the victim of an orchestrated campaign by the Chief Adviser and the ACC to publicise completely false allegations against her. In our correspondence, we demonstrated why each and every allegation made against Ms Siddiq was false.
“The allegations were made to damage Ms Siddiq’s reputation and interfere with UK politics by seeking to disrupt Ms Siddiq’s service of her constituency, her party and her country. This was wholly unacceptable.”
The firm says that the ACC did not respond to the letters, reports bdnews24.com.
It also notes that Tulip had taken the initiative to meet Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus during his visit to London to discuss the issue, but he did not take her up on the offer.
Stephenson Harwood added that the chief advisor had stated that he would not meet with her because the ACC case was a “legal procedure” that he did not want to “interrupt”, noting that Yunus had previously made allegations against Tulip, in several interviews with the media.
In an article in the Times on Jan 12, 2025, Yunus had called for an investigation into homes given to Tulip and said: “It’s about plain robbery”.
In an interview at the State Guest House Jamuna, he had called it an “irony” that Tulip had been accused of corruption.
“She becomes the minister for anti-corruption and defends herself [over the London properties],” he said.
“Maybe you didn’t realise it, but now you realise it. You say: ‘Sorry, I didn’t know it [at] that time, I seek forgiveness from the people that I did this and I resign. She’s not saying that. She’s defending herself.”
“If a UK parliament member is involved, definitely it’s a big issue... we got used to [the previous regime] taking away everything, so we feel relieved that you’re bringing this [issue] to the attention of the world.”
Similarly, in an interview with Sky News on Mar 5, 2025, when asked about the case, the chief advisor said: “Oh yes, our Anti-Corruption Commission is taking it very seriously and she [Tulip Siddiq] has so many wealth left behind here and they will check everything and see how she should be made responsible.”
Stephenson Harwood wrote:
“We would have thought that the Chief Adviser would have checked his facts before making very serious allegations against a democratically elected representative of the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. Further, he should have appreciated that it was wholly inappropriate to make public comments critical of Ms Siddiq during an apparent investigation by the ACC and about the very matters the ACC was supposedly investigating, thereby seriously prejudicing her rights to a fair investigation.”
It reiterated that the correspondence previously sent to the ACC demonstrates that “there was no basis whatsoever for the allegations” against Tulip and said the chief advisor had missed an opportunity to withdraw his allegations during his visit to the UK and set the record straight.
The firm says that ACC Chairman Mohammad Abdul Momen accompanied Yunus on the trip to London and could have met Tulip if he wanted to and questioned her during the visit.
“The stark reality is that having spent many months making false allegations against Ms Siddiq and relentlessly briefing the media, when faced with the true facts, the Chief Adviser and the ACC have lost their voices,” it claimed.
“So, whilst we welcome the fact that the Chief Adviser has acknowledged that he should not interfere in the ACC's investigations, plainly those investigations have no credibility given such prior interference, as well as the way in which they have been conducted. Specifically, the copious briefings to the media, the failure to respond to our letters, the failure to even ask to meet with and question Ms Siddig during their recent visit to the United Kingdom are impossible to justify and completely inconsistent with a fair, lawful and serious investigation.”
Stephenson Harwood said that it was now time for the chief advisor and the ACC to “abandon their wholly misconceived and unlawful campaign to smear Miss Siddiq’s reputation and interfere with her public service”.
It then requested confirmation that the ACC was closing the investigation into Tulip.
Tulip, a Labour MP the niece of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, stepped down from her junior ministerial role in the UK government in January amid mounting scrutiny following the collapse of her aunt’s administration in August in the face of a student-led mass uprising.
Allegations include irregularities involving a RAJUK plot and another property in Dhaka’s Gulshan neighbourhood.
Known for her close ties to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Tulip has also been accused of accepting flats as gifts from individuals linked to the Awami League.
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 Siddique 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.
ACC chief Momen said on Jun 16 that national anti-graft agency is treating Tulip as a Bangladeshi citizen based on official records, and legal proceedings are being pursued accordingly.
“She is accused in three cases, and a fourth is in preparation,” he added.
He cited a report published earlier the same day, revealing that Tulip earned Tk 900,000 from a fish farm in Bangladesh in 2013 -- an income she declared in her tax return.
“Regardless of her claim of being a British citizen, the documentation shows she has earnings in Bangladesh. So, as per the paperwork, she is considered a Bangladeshi national,” Momen said.
“Switching between British and Bangladeshi identities as it suits her is questionable.”