The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Wednesday issued a detailed response to concerns raised over the trial and sentencing of Tulip Siddiq, daughter of Sheikh Rehana and niece of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, insisting that her conviction was based on extensive evidence and a lawful process.
The ACC said it had reviewed prosecution files relating to three corruption cases against Siddiq, including one that has already resulted in a guilty verdict. All three involve plots of land allocated in Dhaka during Hasina's tenure, allegedly in the names of Siddiq, her mother and other family members.
One case notes that Siddiq herself received a plot in Gulshan -- a prime residential area where land prices are among the highest in the capital.
In Special Case No 18/2025, the first to conclude, prosecutors argued that Siddiq played a central role in influencing her aunt, then head of government, to secure land allotments for her relatives.
Thirty-two witnesses appeared for the state, several testifying that Siddiq used her proximity to Hasina to gain preferential access to government-owned land earmarked for public housing.
According to the ACC, these witness statements -- supported by documents detailing multiple allotments linked to Siddiq's immediate family -- amounted to "clear evidence of abetment and influence". The charges were brought under several sections of the Penal Code, as well as provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1947.
The properties at the centre of the case, the commission said, were not agricultural plots or disputed peripheral holdings but sizeable pieces of high-value real estate in Gulshan-2. Such lands, it argued, could accommodate luxury residences or compact apartment blocks, contradicting their original allocation purpose of easing residential pressure in Dhaka.
The ACC further said Siddiq has been linked to five properties in London purchased through offshore channels, adding that the case raises "a fundamental question of how political families amass such wealth across continents". Siddiq did not appear before the court and was tried in absentia. The commission rejected claims that she was denied the opportunity to defend herself, saying she had been given the option to appear or appoint counsel but declined.
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