Home
+
The document shows Rizwana Siddiq [Tulip] as the donor and Azmina Siddiq as the recipient of the flat
Published : 10 Mar 2025, 11:59 PM
The Anti-Corruption Commission, or ACC, says its investigation has found the notary submitted by the former UK City minister Tulip Siddiq to hand over a flat in Dhaka’s Gulshan to her sister is “fake”.
The anti-graft watchdog approved six chargesheets against deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and seven members of her family, including several high-ranking government and Rajdhani Unnayan Katripakka, or RAJUK, officers, in six cases involving the alleged abuse of power and irregularities surrounding the allocation of 60 katha of plots in the Purbachal New Town project in Dhaka.
The chargesheets against them were approved on Monday and will be submitted to the court soon, according to ACC Director General Md Akhtar Hossain.
On Jan 13, the anti-corruption agency prosecuted Sheikh Rehana, her son Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby and daughter Azmina Siddiq Ruponti on three separate charges.
Hasina is also an accused in the cases alongside Tulip.
Meanwhile, the ACC revealed that it had found evidence of handing over the flat using a fake notary named after Tulip in the investigation of Rupanti's case.
ACC Assistant Director Afnan Jannat Keya is the plaintiff and investigation officer of the case.
The ACC investigation revealed that the Heba deed, which was completed on Jun 9, 2015, mentioned Rizwana Siddiq [Tulip] as the donor and Azmina Siddiq as the recipient.
According to the deed, the donor is the owner of the property and is willing to transfer the property to her sister out of love and affection.
The deed mentions the transfer of full ownership, title, rights, and a parking space of the flat [B/201] worth over Tk 2.3 million on the southeast side on the second floor of the building, [plot no. 11/B, Block-N(A)] located in the Gulshan Residential Model Town area.
The document was completed in the presence of two witnesses.
Supreme Court lawyer Gazi Sirazul Islam signed the Heba deed.
The ACC took the testimony of the lawyer in the investigation of the plot case.
In his statement to the ACC, Sirazul said he had received a notary licence in 2012 and since then he only notarises the papers at his law chamber.
In the Heba deed representing his notary, the seal using his name is similar, but the signature doesn’t match.
He also told the agency that he knew one of the witnesses in the Heba document. But he doesn't know the donor and the recipient.
When contacted by bdnews24.com, Sirazul said the same thing.
"I haven’t notarised the Heba document. I never knew them by that name. I just knew there was a British MP by that name. But I don't know them. And the thing is that I don't usually do any notary outside my chamber.”
He added, "I don't do notaries on a commercial basis. I do it only when I know someone.”
The chargesheet approved against Tulip said Rehana took the initiative to arrange a plot for Azmina after learning that Hasina had taken or was in the process of taking plots in the name of herself and her children.
Being a niece, Tulip was involved in the crime of taking advantage for herself or others by using Hasina's influence after she assumed power as the prime minister.
According to the complaint, the former British MP illicitly acquired ownership of a flat in Gulshan, which made her ineligible for allotment of a 10-katha plot in the Purbachal project under the Allotment of Land Rules.
According to the ACC charge sheet, she fraudulently handed over the flat in the name of her sister Azmina Siddiq by making a fake notary affidavit and hiding the information about the flat in the income tax documents since 2015.
Azmina was also ineligible for the allotment of the plot in the Purbachal project, so she took possession of the flat without formally taking ownership of it so that the plot could be allotted.
