Zakir Hossain from Dhaka
The corruption trial against ousted Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina and 17 others— including nieces Azmina Siddiq and British MP Tulip Siddiq— began in a Dhaka court on Wednesday in connection with a housing plot scam.
Afnan Jannat Keya, assistant director of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and complainant in the case, testified before Judge Rabiul Alam of the Special Judge’s Court-4. Earlier, ACC deputy director Md Salahuddin recorded his statement in another graft case against Hasina, her sister Sheikh Rehana and Tulip.
London-based Tulip Siddiq, Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, resigned as UK Treasury minister earlier this year amid corruption allegations against her family following ACC probes. Denying wrongdoing, the 42-year-old accused the Muhammad Yunus-led interim govt in Dhaka of a “smear campaign” to tarnish her image.
On August 11, depositions began in three other plot-allocation corruption cases involving Hasina, her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, and daughter Saima Wazed Putul. The ACC filed six cases between Jan 12 and 14 against Hasina, her family members and 23 others over alleged irregularities in the Purbachal New Town project.
Tulip has been accused of using influence to secure plots for Rehana, Bobby and Azmina. The ACC submitted charge sheets on March 25, naming Hasina as a common accused in all six cases, and listing all accused as fugitives.
On July 31, charges were framed against 29 people, including Hasina, Rehana, Joy, Putul, Bobby, Tulip and Azmina. Hasina, 77, faces multiple graft cases after being ousted on August 5 last year in a mass student-led uprising that forced her to flee Dhaka.