The UKโs former city minister, Tulip Siddiq, has invited Bangladesh Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus to a meeting in Parliament, mentioning him in a tweet as the Nobel laureate is set to visit London on a personal trip using government funds.
โI havenโt done anything wrong and I have nothing to hide. If youโre serious about finding out the truth, meet me in Parliament Muhammad Yunus – letโs talk,โ she said.
Earlier, Siddiq said: โI have no property nor any business interests whatsoever in Bangladesh. The country is dear to my heart but it is not the country where I was born, live in or have built my career in.
โI have sought to clarify this to the ACC but they refuse to engage with my lawyers in London and apparently keep sending correspondence to a random address in Dhaka.โ
However, the media trials never stopped.
After Siddiq had referred herself to the adviser on ministerial standards last year amid allegations about her acquirement of property in the UK, she was cleared in January of any wrongdoing.
Sheikh Hasina reveals Yunus empire, built on ill-gotten money
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 countryโs Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) that Siddiq or her mother had received a 7,200 sq-ft plot of land through โabuse of power and influenceโ. Siddiq denies the claims, which her lawyers have described as being โpolitically motivatedโ and without foundation. She further claims not to have been contacted by the authorities over any of the allegations.
After capturing power through massive violence, dubbed as the student-led uprising against her aunt Sheikh Hasinaโs rule, in August last year, the Yunus-led, Jamaat-controlled administration has filed over 400 murder cases against the former prime minister and at least six cases for corruption.
Local and international rights bodies have criticised the interim government for filing fictitious cases and harassing the leaders, activists and supporters of the Awami League. So far, at least 3,59,000 people have been arrested, over 1,000 Awami League men have been killed, and scores have been subject to torture.
The government is also using the courts to reject bail prayers.
How Yunus provoked media trials
In January, Yunus called for an investigation into properties linked to Siddiq and her family, suggesting that they may be connected to illicit wealth associated with Sheikh Hasina’s regime.
In an interview with British newspaper The Sunday Times, Yunus emphasised the necessity of thoroughly investigating properties connected to Siddiq. He said that if these assets were obtained through unlawful means, they should be returned to the people of Bangladesh.
“It’s about plain robbery,” he said, accusing the former regime of embezzling funds through corrupt practices, which have had long-lasting consequences for the nation.
In January, Siddiq discovered the boundaries of her friendship with Prime Minister Keir Starmer when he accepted her resignation from the government following weeks of revelations regarding her close relationship with her aunt, the former prime minister of Bangladesh.
โIt is with sadness I accept your resignation from your ministerial role,โ the prime minister wrote in an otherwise effusive letter praising her achievements.
Siddiq said the government was being harmed by the furore over her use of properties given to her and her family by allies of Hasinaโs government.
Keir Starmerโs ethics adviser, Laurie Magnus, did not deem her to have broken any rules over her use of the homes and found no evidence to suggest that any of Siddiqโs assets were derived from anything other than legitimate means.
On June 4, in a letter to Yunus, Siddiq asked for an opportunity to discuss the ongoing controversy during his visit to London, where he will meet King Charles and see Keir Starmer in Downing Street.
Siddiq writes that she hopes a meeting might โhelp clear up the misunderstanding perpetuated by the anti-corruption committee in Dhaka that I have questions to answer in relation to my motherโs sister, the former prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasinaโ.
Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam on Sunday claimed that the interim government has not yet received the letter.
What are the cases about?
On April 13, a Dhaka court issued arrest warrants against 53 people, including Sheikh Hasina, her sister Sheikh Rehana, Rehanaโs daughter Tulip Siddiq, and son Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby.
The same day, the ACC filed the charges in three cases.
The ACC launched the investigation on 26 December last year and later filed six cases against Sheikh Hasina and others on allegations of irregularities in allocating 60 katha of plots under the Purbachal New Town Project.
The ACC approved the charge sheet against Sheikh Hasina and seven other members of her family on March 10.
In response, Siddiq said: “It’s a completely politically motivated smear campaign, trying to harass me. There is no evidence that I’ve done anything wrong. No one from the Bangladeshi authorities has contacted me. The entire time, they’ve done trial by media.”
On April 10, a Dhaka court ordered arrest warrants against Sheikh Hasina and her daughter Saima Wazed in the case filed over corruption charges in the allocation of a plot.
On April 13, the court also issued warrants against 21 people, including Sheikh Hasina, Sheikh Rehana, Tulip Siddiq, and her brother, Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby, in three separate cases.
In 2013, Siddiq was pictured alongside her aunt meeting the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow. She insists that she travelled to the Russian capital merely to meet her aunt, but Bangladeshi officials are now investigating whether she brokered a deal between the two countries for a nuclear power plant at an inflated price.
However, the allegations of corruption in the nuclear power project have been found baseless.
English