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Published : 06 May 2026, 12:14 PM
A Dhaka court has deferred the indictment hearing against Tulip Siddiq, a British MP and niece of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, in a case involving the illegal receipt of a flat as a “bribe”.
The hearing, which also involves former RAJUK assistant legal advisor Sardar Mosharraf Hossain, was scheduled for Wednesday at the court of Dhaka Special Judge Md Abdullah Al Mamun.
The court, however, set Jun 28 as the new date as the judge was occupied with other proceedings, according to Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) counsel Mir Ahmed Ali Salam.
The ACC filed the case on Apr 15 last year against Tulip and two former RAJUK (capital development authority) legal advisors, Shah Md Khosruzzaman and Mosharraf, for allegedly receiving a flat from Eastern Housing Limited.
Following the filing, Khosruzzaman moved the High Court to stay the investigation, resulting in a three-month halt for this specific case.
Proceeding without Khosruzzaman, ACC Assistant Director AKM Mortuza Ali Sagar pressed charges against the remaining two suspects on Jan 13.
The court subsequently accepted the chargesheet and issued arrest warrants on Feb 18.
On Feb 26, the court granted an application by the investigating officer to seek an Interpol red notice against Tulip, followed by a gazette notification for the suspects to appear.
According to the case documents, in 1963, the then chief justice Imam Hossain Choudhury was allotted a plot measuring over 1 bigha, or 33 decimals, in Gulshan (plot No. 11A and 11B at present).
Under the government's 99-year lease agreement, any transfer or sub-sale of the plot was prohibited.
In 1973, however, Imam transferred the plot to Md Mojibur Rahman Bhuiyan by public order.
Mojibur then subdivided the plot and sold it to his wife Shamsun Nahar and sister-in-law Zarin Begum.
Later Nahar sold the plot to the daughters of Jahurul Islam, the founding chairman of Eastern Housing, Naeema Islam and Kanita Islam.
The two sisters gave their father Jahurul power of attorney to oversee construction on the site.
Jahurul then split the plot in two and started work on a six-storey building, but he died before it was completed.
Later Naeema and Kanita nominated their brother Manjurul Islam to pass on the power of attorney, but it was cancelled due to an internal family dispute.
Manjurul then took legal steps while the sisters also filed a case to get their ownership of the building back.
During the litigation, the sisters appealed to RAJUK seeking a prohibition on the transfer of flats.
According to the ACC, the then law advisors of RAJUK authorised the “unlawful” transfer of flats to Eastern Housing twice using “false information”, though the company was not the owner of the land.
It alleged the public administrator was appointed "with irregularity by abusing power" without complying with the conditions, and the plot was sold, divided, and transferred.
RAJUK summoned both parties in response to the application for the appointment of the chairman of Eastern Housing as an agent, but they failed to appear, and the agent was never approved, it said.
The case alleges that the plot was split into two, a building was erected on it, and 36 flats were sold or transferred.
The transfer of ownership of Eastern Housing from "an individual person" to a legal person, however, was "questionable", according to the ACC.
This is where Tulip enters the scene as the anti-graft watchdog says she facilitated the dividing and transferring of the 36 flats by breaching the rules.
Tulip, the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate in London, received a flat “for free as an illegal gratuity” in exchange for the arrangement with Eastern Housing, the ACC alleged citing an Eastern Housing letter as “evidence of taking unlawful advantage”.
Tulip was fifth on the list among the flat owners sent to RAJUK by Eastern Housing. The ACC considered it “proof of Tulip illicitly using influence”.
Citing an Eastern Housing letter to the city corporation, the ACC said Tulip has been occupying the flat since May 19, 2001, when Hasina was in power, and the UK MP has been paying a holding tax since.
On Feb 18, the court took cognisance of the chargesheet, issuing arrest warrants against Tulip and former RAJUK official Mosharraf.
The case was transferred to the Special Judges Court-5 in Dhaka on Apr 8 for trial readiness, with Apr 16 initially set for charge framing.
Tulip has consistently denied all allegations, claiming the cases are "false and fabricated" and rooted in a political vendetta.
The British MP, who resigned from her UK ministerial post in January following reports of a London property being gifted to her, has already been sentenced to a total of six years in prison across three separate fraud cases involving Purbachal plot allotments.
