ACC chief questions Tulip Siddiq’s innocence plea amid probe

Tulip Siddiq. Wikipedia

Dhaka, June 16 – Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Chairman Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah on Monday questioned the credibility of British MP Tulip Siddiq’s claim of innocence, asking why her lawyer sent a letter to the ACC if she had nothing to hide.

“Why did she resign from her ministerial post if she knew nothing? And why did her lawyer write to us?” the ACC chief said in response to a journalist’s question during a press briefing in the afternoon.

Tulip, niece of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Labour Party MP for Hampstead and Kilburn in the UK, is currently facing multiple corruption cases in Bangladesh.

“She will be treated as a Bangladeshi citizen, and legal action will be taken accordingly,” Abdullah said, adding that ACC’s proceedings regarding Tulip are ongoing.

He said that summon letters are being sent to her verified addresses and that the allegations involve irregularities in plot allocations in Gulshan and Rajuk, among others.

“She claimed her gold holdings jumped from 10 to 30 tolas in her income tax returns—without any change in market value. These are anomalies we’re looking into,” the ACC chairman said.

“Despite her repeated claims of ignorance, her actions—like resigning from her UK ministerial post—suggest otherwise,” he added.

Tulip resigned from her junior ministerial post in the UK government earlier this year amid growing controversy surrounding the corruption allegations.

On April 15, the ACC filed a case accusing her of unlawfully securing a flat from Eastern Housing Ltd as a bribe in exchange for facilitating the illegal transfer of a Gulshan plot.

She was first summoned on May 14, and a second notice was issued on June 15, asking her to appear for questioning on June 22. Tulip has claimed via various channels that she did not receive the first notice. - UNB