Tulip accused of using fake notary in property transfer
News Desk :
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has accused former UK City Minister Tulip Siddiq of using a falsified notary document to transfer a property to her sister.
This allegation forms part of a wider investigation into the alleged unlawful allocation of state-owned land.
The ACC contends that Siddiq, the niece of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, leveraged her political influence to secure government plots in Dhaka’s Purbachal New Town project for herself and her family, benefiting from an allegedly improper allocation of state land.
According to charge documents released by the ACC on Thursday, Siddiq is also accused of using a fraudulent notary to transfer her sister’s ownership of a separate flat.
The agency plans to submit these charges to the court, a step considered largely procedural before formal prosecution begins.
Siddiq stepped down from her UK government role in January following political pressure after the Financial Times first reported allegations of her involvement in property transactions linked to the Awami League, the party led by her aunt, Sheikh Hasina. She has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
The ACC, which has both investigative and prosecutorial powers, has filed charges against several members of Hasina’s family as part of a broader inquiry into alleged corruption involving state assets.
Investigators claim that Hasina and her relatives were unlawfully allocated government land, bypassing established eligibility rules and procedures.
The Purbachal New Town project is a major residential development on the outskirts of Dhaka.
The ACC alleges that Hasina’s 15-year tenure as prime minister, which ended last August following widespread protests, was marked by growing authoritarianism and financial misconduct.
Since her departure, numerous allegations concerning corruption, land transactions, and financial irregularities involving her family have surfaced.
According to the ACC, approximately 60 katha (roughly one acre) of government land in Purbachal New Town was unlawfully allocated to Hasina, her children, and close relatives.
The commission asserts that Siddiq’s ownership of another property in Dhaka should have disqualified her from obtaining a plot under the land allocation scheme.
However, investigators claim that she and her family manipulated regulations to secure the prime real estate, bypassing public lotteries and eligibility requirements designed to prevent politically connected individuals from accessing land meant for civil servants.
As part of its wider investigation, the ACC has also accused Siddiq of using a fraudulent notary document to transfer ownership of a flat in Dhaka’s Gulshan area to her sister, Azmina Siddiq.
Supreme Court lawyer Gazi Sirazul Islam, whose seal appears on the document, has denied notarising it, stating that while the seal bore his name, the signature did not match his own.
He further informed investigators that he only notarises documents within his law chamber and had no prior connection with either Tulip or Azmina Siddiq.
The document in question, a Heba deed-an Islamic legal instrument for gifting property-dates back to 2015, when Siddiq was serving as a Labour MP but had not yet become a government minister. The ACC alleges that the fraudulent notary document was part of an effort to obscure the true ownership of the property.
Siddiq, a close political ally of UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, stated in January that remaining in her ministerial role, which included responsibility for tackling corruption, would be a distraction for the government.
A spokesperson for the MP has dismissed the allegations, saying: “Absolutely no evidence has been presented for these allegations. Tulip Siddiq has not been contacted on these matters and denies the claims.”