Dhaka, Aug 13: The high-profile corruption trial against Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and 17 others, including her close family members such as UK MP Tulip Siddiq and niece Azmina Siddiq, officially began on Wednesday with the testimony of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) officials before a Dhaka court.
The proceedings at Special Judge’s Court-4 in Dhaka started with depositions from ACC Assistant Director Afnan Jannat Keya and Deputy Director Md Salahuddin. The case stems from allegations of irregularities in the allocation of government housing plots under the Purbachal New Town project, one of six graft cases filed by the ACC in January 2025 against Hasina, her children, siblings, and other political associates.
Tulip Siddiq, a British MP for Hampstead and Highgate who resigned as the UK Treasury Minister earlier this year, is among the key accused. The 42-year-old has rejected the allegations, calling them part of a politically motivated smear campaign orchestrated by the interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.
The ACC alleges that Tulip abused her influence to secure plots for Sheikh Rehana (Hasina’s sister), Bobby Siddiq, and Azmina Siddiq, among others. On July 31, a Dhaka court framed charges against 29 people, including Hasina, her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, daughter Saima Wazed Putul, Rehana, Tulip, and other family members. Arrest warrants were also issued.
Hasina, now 77, was ousted from power on August 5, 2024, following a massive student-led uprising. She fled Dhaka shortly thereafter. Her son, Sajeeb Wazed, has launched a fierce public counterattack against the Yunus-led government, denouncing the charges as “fabricated” and the judicial process as politically compromised.
In a post on social media platform X, Wazed, a former ICT advisor to his mother, dismissed the corruption charges as part of a broader campaign to discredit his family. He insisted that the entire plot allocation process followed legal procedures, including payment of official rates. He called the ACC a “politically compromised” institution acting under the direction of the current regime.
“This is simply a futile attempt by the Yunus regime to sully the name of my family,” Wazed wrote, accusing the judiciary of being “too intimidated” to pursue justice impartially.
He criticized ACC Chairman Abdul Momen, calling him a former BNP bureaucrat whose appointment was politically motivated. Wazed said that under Momen’s leadership, the ACC had turned into a “full-time tool for harassing and defaming” Awami League members.
Wazed further claimed that Awami League leaders and supporters are being detained en masse under false charges, denied bail, and subject to arbitrary legal harassment. He also raised concerns about the absence of due process, alleging that even lawyers and defendants are being assaulted in court with impunity.
“These so-called cases should have been thrown out at first instance,” Wazed said, expressing no confidence in the judiciary under what he called “Yunus’s dictatorship.”
The trial is expected to intensify political tensions in Bangladesh, where accusations of judicial manipulation and authoritarian overreach have become central to the ongoing political crisis. (Agencies)
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