Dhaka, Dec 1, (dpa/GNA) – A Bangladeshi court on Monday, sentenced British lawmaker Tulip Siddiq, a member of the Labour Party, to two years in prison for corruption related to a government housing project.
Her aunt, former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, was sentenced to five years, according to a lawyer for the state-run Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) which had brought the case.
Siddiq’s mother, Sheikh Rehana, received seven years, ACC lawyer Moinul Hasan said.
They were tried in absentia.
Fourteen other defendants, mostly public servants, were each sentenced to five years in prison, the lawyer added.
The ACC accuses Siddiq of having used her position as a British member of parliament, to influence her aunt to obtain plots in the Purbachal New Town Project near Dhaka.
Three 669-square-metre plots were allocated to her mother, her sister, Azmina Siddiq, and her brother, Radwan Mujib, according to the ACC.
Tulip Siddiq, who has denied the allegations against her, resigned as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s anti-corruption minister in January, amid a row over links to her aunt’s government widely reported by British media.
Lawyer Hasan said Monday’s verdict fell short of his expectations, as he had sought a life sentence for Siddiq. He added that the ACC would seek Interpol’s assistance to repatriate her.
Last week, a separate court sentenced Hasina to 21 years in jail in three graft cases related to land allocations in the same project.
Hasina has been in exile in India since fleeing the country on August 5, 2024.
Earlier last month, the former prime minister was handed the death penalty by a special court in Dhaka for her involvement in last year’s violent suppression of mass protests, that ousted her after 15 years in power.
GNA