Tulip Siddiq, a Labour MP and niece of Bangladesh’s ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, is once again under the spotlight after media reports in the British media cited documents suggesting she held Bangladeshi citizenship -- allegations she says are fabricated.
According to British tabloid the Daily Mail, officials in Dhaka have uncovered records showing Tulip was issued a Bangladeshi passport at 19 and a national identity card in 2011. The newspaper reports that she also appeared on the country’s voter database and had applied to renew her passport in Dhaka in 2011, reports bdnews24.com.
The Telegraph said documents it had seen also suggested Tulip received a passport in 2001 and an ID card a decade later. However, the papers listed a Dhaka address belonging to her aunt Hasina, raising questions about their authenticity.
Tulip, who resigned as Labour’s anti-corruption minister in January amid reports of a Bangladeshi corruption probe against her, is being tried in absentia in her country of origin. She and her family members face allegations of illegally acquiring land in an exclusive residential area in Dhaka. She denies the charges, calling the trial a “farce” driven by a political vendetta.
Citing Mohammed Abdul Momen, the head of Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission, the Daily Mail reports that the passport and ID card issued to her were genuine.
Tulip has consistently maintained she is a British citizen and “not Bangladeshi”. In 2017 she told a UK journalist: “I am British, be very careful what you’re saying, I am a British MP ... I am not Bangladeshi.”
Tulip has "never held a Bangladeshi national identity card or voter ID, and has not held a passport since childhood", her spokesman told the Daily Mail.
“The Bangladeshi authorities have pursued a politically motivated smear campaign against her without producing a shred of credible evidence. They are now circulating fabricated documents in a desperate attempt to justify their so-called trial.”
She gave a similar response to the Telegraph, accusing officials of using “forged” papers. “They have now resorted to forging documents which are categorically fake and bear all the hallmarks of falsification.”
Her camp cited apparent discrepancies, such as the use of her aunt’s residence as her own address and the fact the ID card was not in the newer “smart” format.
Earlier this year, Tulip`s lawyers told the Financial Times that she "has never had a Bangladesh national identity card or voter ID and has not held a passport since she was a child”.
Tulip was born in the UK to Bangladeshi parents and is entitled to hold dual citizenship. Bangladeshi authorities have asserted that she possesses a valid passport and national ID.
She continues to insist the corruption allegations are politically motivated, describing them as “false and vexatious”.
