Shabana Mahmood is currently set to decide whether fellow Labour MP Tulip Siddiq can be extradited to Bangladesh to serve a four-year prison sentence. Or risk a diplomatic incident…
Following historic elections in the country the man set to become Bangladesh’s foreign minister has told the Independent that the new government will seek extradition. Humayun Kabir – a foreign affairs adviser to PM-elect Tarique Rahman and tipped to be the new foreign minister – described Siddiq as a “convicted criminal” and “an embarrassment” to the UK government. He added:
“So we expect the UK government will sternly deal with all those Awami League criminals and terrorists on UK soil who try to terrorise and destabilise Bangladesh using money laundering activities. And we will provide a list to the British government… We want them back. And in terms of extradition, we would want the UK to track these criminals. If we are going to be a strong partner with the UK on dealing with illegal migration, why can’t the UK be any different in dealing with criminals that have fled to the UK territory from Bangladesh?”
Bangladesh is classed by Britain as a Category 2 Type B country for extradition. This is the process for those:
- extradition request is made by the requesting state to the Home Secretary.
- Secretary of State decides whether to certify the request and sends the case to the court, or not.
- judge decides whether to issue a warrant for arrest.
- the person wanted is arrested and brought before the court.
- preliminary hearing, then extradition hearing.
- Secretary of State decides whether to order extradition.
Siddiq has always denied all wrongdoing. This means that at three stages a decision will have to be made by Shabana Mahmood – if she is still Home Secretary at the time – with regard to Siddiq if an extradition request is made. Downing Street has always refused to say if the government will comply with an extradition request…
When this issue last came up Starmer refused to meet Bangladesh’s leader on his visit to London while the Labour Party attacked the judicial process applied to Tulip Siddiq in strong terms. Starmer met Bangladesh’s ousted dictator Sheikh Hasina, who is Tulip’s aunt, several times…
The likely outcome is that British diplomats are instructed by Labour to expend significant political capital to try to make the Tulip issue go away with their Bangladeshi counterparts. Even then the new BNP government may demand their judicial process is followed to its conclusion…
Guido pointed out this morning that the UK government has been strangely quiet on a mooted meeting with Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus. Yunus is in the UK this week: 9 – 13 June and Bangladeshi officials said a face-to-face with the PM would take place. Guido hears Starmer will not in fact meet him…
Yunus is meeting King Charles – whom he knows well – to receive the prestigious “Harmony Award 2025” at St James’s Palace on Thursday. It is extremely irregular for a meeting with our PM to be swerved on the UK side…
When Yunus entered power as interim leader last year this is what the UK government said:
“UK government warmly welcomes the appointment of H.E Professor Yunus and the interim government. The interim government has the UK’s full support as it works to restore peace and order, ensure accountability and promote national reconciliation.”
Starmer said as much in a letter to Yunus. Why then are they not meeting?
Recent internal political chatter has been focussed on intense nervousness with regard to any meeting mentioning Tulip Siddiq. Yunus has previously discussed a possible extradition of Siddiq, who is facing charges in Bangladesh…
Siddiq herself denies all wrongdoing. The Awami League party of Tulip’s aunt the ousted dictator Sheikh Hasina has written to Downing Street to express their displeasure at reports a meeting was on the cards. Starmer met with senior Awami League figures just months ago. This ongoing scandal raises extremely serious implications for the UK’s ability to conduct international diplomacy effectively…
Guido sat down with Bobby Hajjaj, the Bangladeshi politician responsible for filing the original claim against Tulip Siddiq to the Anti-Corruption Commission in Dhakka, for an exclusive interview about the Siddiq scandal. The Bangladeshi opposition figure does not hold back…
- Hasina and her family ran a dictatorial regime that committed terrible crimes – political assassinations, vote rigging and massive levels of corruption.
- He accuses Hasina’s sister Sheikh Rehana (Tulip’s mother), saying she was “intricately involved with all of these activities.” Rehana denies those claims…
- The Russian nuclear plant case was one of the few in which there were “links with Tulip Siddiq herself“, a claim also made in the UK media, which Siddiq denies.
- Opposition politicians in Dhaka have “long had suspicions that Siddiq has been working as the front person of the Hasina regime in the UK.“
- The ACC investigation probably “won’t take very long” because it “won’t take very long to unearth all the evidence” or significant evidence.
- He claims Tulip holds dual citizenship and “even though Bangladesh and the UK don’t have an official extradition treaty I believe but there are certain terms and understandings on those terms. So from our end we will certainly push for the ACC and law enforcement here to ask for Tulip to come and face law enforcement, or face the courts.“
- He speculates that Siddiq and her family may argue they will not get justice – “that’s not true because the due process of Bangladesh was derailed while Tulip Siddiq’s aunt and mother were in power.”
- There are fears that a “UK government that was heavily supported by confidants of the dictatorial regime… might not be particularly helpful” in repatriating allegedly stolen assets.
- Senior members of the Labour government have been seen “hobnobbing with the dictator Hasina, Rehana, and with their confidant Anwaruzzaman Chowdhury.” As first reported here…
- The UK needs “thorough investigations” into these relationships as well as into the siphoning of “hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars and pounds into the UK over the last 15 years.“
- “The Labour government itself has been hugely supported by Hasina’s dictatorial government money.”
- “Labour and the Awami League party have been almost like sister parties and knowing very well the human rights abuses.”
- Seeing Tulip and her family “enjoying such successes based on what they’ve looted from us is a matter of grief for the people of Bangladesh, it deeply saddens us.”
- The Bangladeshis are “working on our end to find as much truth as we can but whatever has happened to the money… the truth can only be unearthed by investigating in the UK not over here hence we look at the UK for support.”
Tulip herself denies any wrongdoing and there is no evidence or suggestion that she or the Labour Party had any involvement in illicit cash being moved from Bangladesh to the UK, or other allegations made by Hajjaj including that she paid her way into parliament and government. Her team has subsequently claimed she only has a UK bank account, but has not commented on her alleged possession of dual nationality. A court order issued against Siddiq in Bangladesh bears a Bangladeshi National ID Card number for her, suggesting she is a Bangladeshi dual national. Either way, the Bangladeshis are clearly not dropping the matter…
When asked about claims about her involvement in a Russia-backed nuclear plant, a spokesman for Ms Siddiq previously told the Daily Mail: ‘No evidence has been presented for these allegations. Tulip has not been contacted by anyone on the matter and totally refutes the claims.’ Moreover, Labour claims the reason Siddiq left government was solely due to the findings of the Independent Adviser, published in his letter. Guido reliably hears that at the most senior levels of the Bangladeshi government the UK’s full co-operation is expected when it comes to the retrieval of funds and assets allegedly embezzled. The NCA will not comment on any ongoing investigations. UK Government teams are known to be in the capital working with the new government. This will be an awkward diplomatic situation to put it mildly…
Labour will be hoping that Siddiq’s departure from government will be the end of the matter. That’s hopeful, given that the new authorities in Bangladesh have only just started…
This week Guido revealed Starmer’s multiple meetings with Tulip Siddiq’s aunt the ousted dictator Sheikh Hasina. He even went on a trip to Bangladesh with Siddiq when he was a backbencher…
Guido can now reveal that just last month the Prime Minister met with the general secretary of the Awami League in the UK – former Sylhet City Corporation Mayor Anwaruzzaman Chowdhury. The two were filmed speaking cordially at an event on 5 December. Chowdhury said on his social media they spoke “about the current situation of Bangladesh.” Guido would soon disclose the Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Commission’s investigation into Tulip Siddiq and other members of Hasina’s family in the UK, all of which are under scrutiny for possession of properties gifted by Awami League officials…
Chowdhury, who fled Bangladesh after the fall of Hasina’s regime, has an extensive history of Bangladeshi press coverage. He has been named in reports about numerous human rights allegations, including in relation to the death of a student. The Bangladeshi press has named him in a murder case relating to the death of seven people and over explosive charges. Reports there also say he has been named in a case relating to vandalism and looting. All relate to protests in the summer against Hasina’s regime. There is no response to these allegations in the Bangladeshi reports…
There is no doubt that Chowdhury is a close ally of Sheikh Hasina and has been photographed with her numerous times. After meeting Starmer Chowdhury promoted a UK pro-Hasina rally in December against the interim government of Bangladesh. He is also close to City minister Tulip Siddiq, pictures of whom feature on his social media. He has been photographed along with other Awami League officials campaigning for Siddiq as recently as 2019. At an Awami League rally held shortly after the 2015 election, at which Sheikh Hasina was present, Siddiq said in Bengali to cheering party members: “Had it not been for your help, I would never have been standing as a British MP.” In her 2017 election victory speech, Tulip specifically thanked Chowdhury, referring to him as “Anwar Mama.” The term “mama” means uncle and is used in Bangladesh to refer to family friends on the mother’s side…
Siddiq is under investigation by the independent adviser on ministerial standards Laurie Magnus – which Downing Street briefs is a “fact-finding exercise to determine if an investigation is needed.” The close nature of Starmer’s relationship with the Awami League puts Starmer’s final judgement on the investigation into question. The adviser gives advice – any sanction or action on Siddiq is his decision alone. Siddiq has issued multiple statements denying any wrongdoing. Starmer’s personal links to Bangladesh are unravelling fast…
Sarah Pochin at Reform Scotland’s manifesto launch event: “I really wanted to come on in a Reform tartan burka, but apparently I wasn’t allowed… One day let’s do one of these events not live-streamed. We’ll do all the naughty stuff…”
