Family Ties: Bangladesh Issues Arrest Warrant for British Lawmaker Accused of Corruption 

A judge in Bangladesh this week issued an arrest warrant on charges of corruption for British lawmaker and former governing Labour Party minister Tulip Siddiq, niece of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was deposed by a mass uprising in August after 15 years of rule, the Associated Press wrote. 

Senior Special Judge of Dhaka Metropolitan, Zakir Hossain, issued the order on Sunday after reviewing charges in three separate cases filed by the Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC): It has been investigating allegations involving Siddiq and her family – including Hasina – illegally acquiring land in a government township project near Dhaka, the capital. 

More than 50 people were named in the arrest warrant, including her mother and brother.  

The Bangladesh Awami League, the party of Hasina, dismissed the charges as politically motivated. 

Bangladesh is considered by the United Kingdom as a 2B extradition country, meaning that ministers and judges require clear evidence before approving such a request, according to the BBC. 

Siddiq, responsible for tackling corruption in financial markets, was also implicated in December in an anti-corruption investigation in Bangladesh involving Hasina in which the former leader and her family are accused of embezzling as much as $4.9 billion from infrastructure projects in the country. Investigators say Siddiq allegedly facilitated a 2013 deal with Russia for a nuclear power plant to be built in the country at an inflated cost. 

Siddiq quit her post as minister in January, saying that even if she was cleared of wrongdoings, she was stepping down to prevent the matter from becoming a distraction for the government.