https://www.newagebd.net/post/country/257577/money-laundering-acc-seeks-info-from-12-countries-on-tulips-allegations#google_vignette

The Anti-Corruption Commission has sent letters to 12 countries, seeking information about individuals, including former United Kingdom’s city minister Tulip Siddiq, who were allegedly involved in money laundering.

Tulip is a niece of the ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and a daughter of Hasina’s younger sister Sheikh Rehana.

ACC director general (prevention) Aktar Hossain came up with the information on sending letters in response to a question at a press briefing at the commission’s Segun Bagicha headquarters in the capital Dhaka on Sunday.

He stated that an inquiry into Tulip’s alleged involvement in corruption was currently underway, and information had been sought from relevant countries.

He also mentioned that the ACC has sought information about the other individuals involved in alleged money laundering.

According to ACC officials, a total of 71 letters have been sent to 12 countries to trace and recover funds laundered abroad. The ACC has already received responses to 27 of these letters, signalling progress in the probe investigation.

Meanwhile, Tulip was listed as a resident of a luxury 10-storey tower block in the Bangladeshi capital named after her family, The Telegraph revealed.

Officials in Dhaka believe the former anti-corruption minister’s ‘permanent address’ was the upmarket apartment complex named ‘Siddiques’ in 2014, while she was a councillor in Camden, north London.

The property at Gulshan, home to embassies and major businesses, is the fifth in Bangladesh to be linked to Tulip, either through court papers or news reports.

Labour party sources say she does not own any properties in Bangladesh and does not need to answer questions on addresses that do not belong to her, the report said.

Nearly a month after she resigned as city minister, Tulip is still facing questions over her property affairs and links to her aunt Sheikh Hasina’s authoritarian regime in Bangladesh.

She was forced to resign from the front bench after Sir Laurie Magnus, the UK prime minister’s ethics adviser, found that she had inadvertently misled the public over a flat gifted to her by a man linked to the Awami League party led by Sheikh Hasina.

The 10-storey apartment block in the upmarket Gulshan area of the capital Dhaka was built in the 2010s and according to a promotional video is home to a roof terrace and two and three-bedroom properties with balconies.

It is unclear if the building is named after Tulip Siddiq’s father Shafique Ahmed Siddique, her grandfather or the family in general.

In addition to the property named after family members, Tulip has been linked to another address at Gulshan and her aunt’s house at Dhanmondi in court papers.

The latter was set on fire and ransacked by angry protesters this week in response to a speech by Sheikh Hasina.

Tulip also previously owned a flat in Dhaka with another family member worth more than £1,00,000 which was sold in 2015 according to Parliament’s Register of Interests.

The ACC is also investigating claims Tulip was involved in the £4 billion embezzlement of funds from a nuclear power plant deal with Russia and claims she used her influence to help illegally allocate land for her family in the country’s capital.

The Telegraph in another report revealed that Bangladesh was investigating a luxury rural retreat with Tulip Siddiq’s name at its entrance.

The sprawling estate featuring signs for Tulip’s Territory is being examined by Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission amid claims of land grabbing over the plot in the village of Kanaiya.

According to official records, the wider plot includes eight bighas (3.3 acres) owned by her father, but local accounts suggest the walled-off area is much larger.

The estate, which includes a pink duplex with a roof terrace, tin houses, palm trees and a pond with wooden boats now shows signs of vandalism and fire damage.