Dhaka, August 13: A high-profile corruption trial began Wednesday (August 13) in Bangladesh against ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her nieces — Azmina Siddiq and British MP Tulip Siddiq — and 15 others over allegations of illegally securing state-owned housing plots.
The proceedings opened at Dhaka’s Special Judge’s Court-4 with testimony from Afnan Jannat Keya, an assistant director at the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the complainant in the case, according to The Daily Star. Earlier in the day, ACC Deputy Director Md Salahuddin, who filed a separate graft case against the same defendants, gave his statement before Judge Md Rabiul Alam.
Tulip Siddiq, who represents Hampstead and Highgate in the UK Parliament and formerly served as Britain’s anti-corruption minister, is accused of leveraging her political influence and family connections to help relatives acquire land in a government township project near Dhaka. She resigned from her ministerial post in January after reports linked her to properties tied to Hasina and named her in the ACC investigation.
The indictment includes Hasina’s sister Sheikh Rehana, Azmina Siddiq, Radwan Mujib, and other political associates. Prosecutors say most defendants have not appeared in court and will be tried in absentia.
This housing plot scandal is one of several legal battles facing Hasina since her ouster in August last year in a student-led uprising that ended her 15-year rule. Hundreds were killed during the unrest, and Hasina has since lived in exile in India. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus now leads the interim government and has pledged to prosecute top figures from the former administration.
Separately, the ACC alleges that Siddiq’s family was involved in brokering a 2013 nuclear power deal with Russia, during which significant sums were embezzled. Siddiq and her legal team have repeatedly dismissed the charges as politically motivated.
With two key testimonies now on record, the case marks one of the most politically sensitive corruption trials in Bangladesh’s recent history, drawing attention from both South Asian and international observers.