Former city minister Tulip Siddiq has sent a legal notice to Bangladeshโs self-proclaimed chief adviser, Muhammad Yunus, and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), asking them to stop conducting an “orchestrated campaign” to damage her reputation and “interfere with UK politics”.
In the new correspondence sent on Monday, lawyers for the former minister write: “The time has now come for the chief adviser and the ACC to abandon their wholly misconceived and unlawful campaign to smear Ms Siddiq’s reputation and interfere with her public service.”
In the new legal letter, the lawyers say the interim leader had already unfairly influenced the inquiries through previous comments.
“The copious briefings to the media, the failure to respond to our letters, the failure to even ask to meet with and question Ms Siddiq during their recent visit to the United Kingdom are impossible to justify and completely inconsistent with a fair, lawful and serious investigation,” reads the letter.
The correspondence also sets a deadline of June 30, 2025 for the Bangladeshi authorities to reply by, stating that “in the absence of a full and proper responseโฆ Ms Siddiq will consider this matter closed”.
Sharing a Sky News report about her legal notice on X, Tulip Siddiq said: โStill no contact from the Bangladesh authorities. No evidence. Just baseless allegations and a political vendetta. Time to move on.โ
Earlier, Yunus told the BBC earlier this month that the allegations were a “court matter” and said he had confidence in ACC.
Tulip Siddiq was disappointed that Yunus had not met her during his London tour. Talking to BBC, she said: โHeโs been at the heart of a political vendetta based on fantasy accusations with no evidence relentlessly briefed to the media.
โIf this was a serious legal process they would engage with my lawyers rather than sending bogus correspondence to an address in Dhaka where I have never lived.
โI hope he is now serious about ending the practice of smearing me in the press and allowing the courts to establish that their investigations have nothing to do with me โ a British citizen and a proud member of the UK Parliament.โ
Sharing a clip of the BBCโs interview with Yunus, Siddiq cited how he chose not to take responsibility when asked why no one from the Bangladesh authorities had contacted her or her lawyers at all.
โSilence isnโt dignity in this case, itโs evasion,โ Siddiq wrote on her X post.
After Siddiq had referred herself to the adviser on ministerial standards amid allegations about her acquisition of property in the UK, she was cleared in January of any wrongdoing.
Siddiq is a British MP from Hampstead and Highgate and the daughter of Sheikh Rehana, one of the two living daughters of Bangladeshโs Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
A series of allegations have been aired in the media, including the claim from the ACC that Siddiq or her mother had received a 7,200 sq-ft plot of land through โabuse of power and influence.โ
Siddiq denies the claims, which her lawyers have described as being โpolitically motivatedโ and without foundation.
In an interview with Yunus, the BBC asked him whether he would meet Siddiq during his visit to the UK. โNo, Iโm not, because itโs a legal procedure,โ Yunus said. โI donโt want to interrupt a legal procedure. Let the procedure continue.โ
Yunus, however, met with BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, a convict who has been staying in the UK since 2008, though an appeal in the August 21 grenade attack case is still pending.
Yunus has been using the ACC as a tool to harass his political rivals and to withdraw the cases against him and his allies. Only three days after taking the oath on August 8, a Dhaka court quashed a corruption case against Yunus based on an application by the ACC.
Moreover, the head of the ACC recently claimed that there were no allegations of corruption against the Yunus-led interim government, which came in stark contrast with the ongoing investigations and media reports against several advisers, their personal staff and family members.
Yunus himself and his Grameen-linked companies have also taken advantage of millions of dollars, abusing his position. The ACC has not raised any questions.
This is why Yunus could firmly say to the BBC that he has full confidence in the ACC.
The BBC questioned him about how the court issued an arrest warrant without sharing case documents and charges against Siddiq, and when a probe in the UK cleared her of any wrongdoing. Yunus replied that everything was going on as per the law.
Yunus said he had not been able to arrange a meeting with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, a close friend and constituency neighbour of Siddiq.
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