Tarique Siddique’s wife, daughter were denied Maltese citizenship over corruption claims: FT

Financial Times cites leaked documents that reveal the EU nation's concerns over allegations of corruption, fraud, and bribery against Hasina and UK minister Tulip's inner circle

Shaheen Siddique, the wife of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s defence advisor Tarique Ahmed Siddique, and their daughter Bushra Siddique, were denied a Maltese passport due to concerns over allegations of corruption, fraud, and bribery, the Financial Times has reported, citing leaked documents.

The documents also revealed that Shaheen, also the aunt of UK anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq, had applied for citizenship in two separate instances, in 2013 and 2015.

The second was a joint application with her London-based daughter Bushra, who is the first cousin of Tulip, the UK’s City minister who holds responsibility for financial crime and illicit finance.

Shaheen was turned away in 2013 by Henley & Partners, which then had exclusive rights to administer Malta’s citizenship-by-investment programme.

“The immigration consultancy rejected Shaheen’s application for a Maltese passport, noting her links to a company accused by Bangladeshi media outlets of “illegally obtaining valuable government lands in Dhaka”, according to the documents seen by the Financial Times, or FT.

Shaheen's husband, Tarique, a retired major general, served as Hasina's advisor from 2009 until the fall of the Awami League government.

Tarique and Shaheen’s bank accounts were frozen by the interim Bangladeshi government in October 2024, following the student-led uprising that ended Awami League chief Hasina’s 16-year rule.

The leaked documents reveal details of how the family that have been at the centre of allegations concerning kleptocracy under the Hasina government arranged their affairs to obtain citizenship, says the FT.

The Henley decision highlights allegations from 2012 involving a company named Prochhaya, which was accused of seizing valuable land in Dhaka.

Shaheen listed her role as the chairperson of Prochhaya in her 2013 passport application, while her daughter Bushra held a director position in the company.

According to the documents for the joint application in March 2015, Maltese citizenship would cost €650,000 for Shaheen and €25,000 for Bushra; in addition, Henley would take a €70,000 fee.

Documents from Shaheen’s 2015 application detailed a bank account in Kuala Lumpur with $2.76 million deposited over two months in 11 transactions. The origin is not specified in the documents.

Transparency International Bangladesh, or TIB, Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman highlighted that Bangladeshi currency laws limit overseas transfers to $12,000 annually, raising further questions about the source of the funds.

Bushra, who was studying in London on a student visa, gave her address at the time as a second-floor flat in the grand Gothic building that towers above St Pancras station in central London.

This property was a few minutes’ walk from her cousin Tulip’s King’s Cross flat, which Tulip was given by a British Bangladeshi businessman for free in 2004, according to media reports.

After graduating, Bushra, first cousin to Tulip Siddiq, worked briefly at investment bank JPMorgan before becoming a “lifestyle, fashion, and travel” influencer in 2018. That year, she and her husband purchased a £1.9 million five-bedroom house in North London without a mortgage, according to Land Registry filings.

Bushra acknowledged her privileged background in a YouTube interview, stating she could rely on her family’s support.

Her mother, Shaheen, did not comment on the allegations, nor did Tarique, who faces an arrest warrant in Bangladesh for alleged involvement in enforced disappearances.

The Financial Times said Henley and Partners rejected the first citizenship application in 2013, citing the allegations surrounding Prochhaya, including land grabbing, money laundering, corruption, fraud, and bribery.

The email also referenced media reports in Bangladesh that had covered these accusations.

In the next passport application, made jointly with her daughter two years later, Shaheen made no mention of Prochhaya.

Instead, she listed her company as “The Art Press Pvt Ltd” in Chattogram.

At that time, Henley and Partners informed them via email that “whilst no adverse information has been identified”, the Maltese authorities needed more information about the company.

In response, the company's return email said “The Art Press Private Limited” was founded in 1926 by Shaheen's grandfather.

Initially, the company’s main operation was printing.

The return email also added that Shaheen had been serving as the managing director of the company since 2013.

In the last of the leaked documents from late 2015, Shaheen is on a list of clients headed “Applications Cancelled and/or Rejected”.

Malta’s official gazette confirms that neither Shaheen nor Bushra received a passport.

On Monday, the International Crimes Tribunal issued arrest warrants for 11 people, including Hasina, in a case related to enforced disappearances.

Tarique is also among those named in the warrants.

The Anti-Corruption Commission, or ACC, launched an investigation into allegations of corruption against Hasina's family following the fall of her government in August 2024.

In connection with allegations of financial irregularities amounting to nearly $5 billion in the country’s first nuclear power plant project in Rooppur, the name of Shaheen’s company, Prochhaya, has also surfaced.

Citing ACC, the Chief Advisor’s Office said in a summary: “Ousted Bangladesh’s prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her Son Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed Joy and niece Tulip Siddiq embezzled $5 Billion from overpriced $12.65 billion Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant through various offshore bank accounts in Malaysia.”

The summary also indicated how the money was allegedly laundered.

According to the summary, “Tulip's uncle, Tarique Ahmed Siddique, the former security advisor to Hasina, his wife and daughter are stakeholders in a fake company named Prochchaya Limited (Incorporation Certificate Number C-75659/09, dated Mar 25, 2009).

“This company, in affiliation with a slash fund cheat fund company named Destiny Group, had laundered around $900 million to different countries, including the United Kingdom and has opened a company named Zumana Investment & Properties Limited [Incorporation Certificate Number 7417417, dated Oct 25, 2010] in the United Kingdom by investigating dirty money,” the summary read.

In the UK, allegations against Tulip and her sister involving properties linked to individuals associated with the Awami League have caused a stir.

It is alleged that Tulip, a British MP for Hampstead and Highgate, had used a flat in her constituency, which was gifted to her younger sister Azmina Siddique by Moin Gani, a lawyer who represented Hasina’s government and has photographs with the former prime minister.

In addition, Tulip herself reportedly received a flat near London’s King’s Cross as a gift from Abdul Motalib, a property developer with alleged ties to her aunt Hasina and the Awami League.

The current value of the flat is £700,000, according to British media reports.

“Any suggestion that Tulip Siddiq’s ownership of this property, or any other property is in any way linked to support for the Awami League, would be categorically wrong,” a spokesperson for Tulip told the FT.

However, amid mounting calls for her resignation, Labour MP Tulip has already requested an independent investigation into the allegations.

She has approached the UK government’s Independent Ethics Advisor (Standards Watchdog) Sir Laurie Magnus to look into the matter.