Siddiq 'baffled' by Bangladesh jail sentence for corruption

The Highgate and Hampstead MP denies all wrongdoing after being given sentence in her absence by Bangladesh court

Tulip Siddiq spoke this morning in response to her conviction in Bangladesh

Highgate and Hampstead MP Tulip Siddiq has described the news of her two-year jail sentence on corruption charges in Bangladesh “absolutely baffling” and “deeply unfair”.

The former anti-corruption minister resigned her post at the start of this year as she became embroiled in the emerging scandal, which she has been linked with through her aunt – Bangladesh’s ousted ex-prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

In a trial which she did not attend, Siddiq has been found guilty of influencing Hasina to secure a plot of land for her family near the capital city Dhaka.

The Labour MP has strongly denied the charges and this morning reacted to her jail sentence with incredulity. “I’m absolutely baffled by the whole thing,” she said in a television interview today (Monday 1st).

“I’ve still had no contact whatsoever from the Bangladeshi authorities despite them spreading malicious allegations about me for a year-and-a-half now.”

Siddiq continued: “There’s been absolutely no summons sent to me, there’s no charge sheet, I’ve had no correspondence from them – I’m not difficult to find, I’m a parliamentarian.”

Hasina quit as prime minister in August 2024 following widescale protests against her rule and fled to India without making a resignation speech. Prosecutors in Bangladesh subsequently launched a number of legal cases against her as well as people she’d associated with, centred around an allegation of embezzling up to £3.9billion from infrastructure projects.

Siddiq added: “I feel like I’m in some sort of Kafkaesque nightmare.

“The only reason I know I’m being convicted is because I read it in the newspapers.”

Siddiq was today sentenced by Judge Rabiul Alam to two years in prison. But her lawyers have even disputed she is a Bangladeshi citizen, saying the Labour MP has not held a passport for the country since she was a child.

It’s unlikely Siddiq will ever serve the sentence as she does not intend to travel to Bangladesh.

Soon after being named by the country’s anti-corruption taskforce in January, Siddiq quit as an economic secretary to the Treasury, where her role included regulating corruption in the financial sector.

She has represented Highgate since the 2024 General Election when her constituency was expanded into Haringey borough.

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