Tulip regular taxpayer in Bangladesh despite being a British MP

Tulip Siddiq, a British Member of Parliament (MP) of the ruling Labour Party did not only have a Bangladesh National ID card (NID) and passport, but she was also a regular tax payer in this country.

Prothom Alo’s investigations have found that for at least one decade she regularly filed income tax returns in Bangladesh. She stated her source of income to be 'business/profession', though the business or profession was not specified. Only on one financial year was their mention of a fish-related business.

There is a flat in Tulip's name in Gulshan, Dhaka, though there is no mention of this flat in her tax papers. Last April the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) of Bangladesh filed a case against Tulip, accusing her of receiving this flat that is registered in her name, from a certain housing company as an "illicit benefit".

For long Tulip has been claiming that she is not a Bangladeshi national, but solely a British citizen. Prothom Alo and the British daily, The Times, last Thursday published investigative reports regarding evidence of Tulip actually having a Bangladeshi NID and passport. This sparked fresh discourse in the British media concerning Tulip.      

On 31 August this year, Prothom Alo sent an email to Tulip's legal representative in the UK, the law firm Stephenson Hardwood, seeking a statement from Tulip Siddiq regarding her paying taxes regularly as a Bangladeshi national, having a flat registered in her name in Bangladesh and other evidence of her citizenship. This was followed up with two more letters asking for a response in this regard. There has been no reply.

However, regarding the issue of having a Bangladeshi NID and passport, a spokesperson for Tulip gave a statement to The Times of the UK. The spokesperson did not acknowledge that Tulip possesses an NID or passport in Bangladesh. Tulip claims that for nearly a year, the Bangladeshi authorities have been spreading politically motivated slander against her.
Through its independent investigation, Prothom Alo has obtained not only evidence of Tulip’s NID and passport but also detailed information on her income tax records. The documents show that from the 2005–06 fiscal to the 2015–16 fiscal, Tulip Siddiq regularly filed income tax returns with Bangladesh’s National Board of Revenue (NBR). She also paid taxes every year.

According to ACC sources, during the investigation into the corruption case, the commission seized Tulip’s income tax records. The seized documents contain statements covering the fiscal years 2005–06 to 2016–17. However, it could not be confirmed whether Tulip submitted statements to the income tax department of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) in the subsequent fiscal years.

In her income tax returns, Tulip Siddiq used two addresses. One was at House No. 677, Road 32, Dhanmondi (the house of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman). The other was at a flat on Road 4, Gulshan (her father Shafiq Siddiq's flat).

In the documents she submitted to the National Board of Revenue's income tax department for the 2005-06 fiscal, Tulip Rizwana Siddiq stated that she had earned Tk 1 lakh 62 thousand 500 (Tk 162,500) from her business/profession. She owned furniture worth Tk 10,000. That financial year she paid the Bangladesh government Tk 4,200 in income tax.

According to the submitted records, till 30 June 2006 Tulip had Tk 2 lakh 5 thousand 500 (Tk 205,500) in cash and deposited in her bank.
In the next financial year (2006-07), she showed her earning as Tk 1 lakh 95 thousand (Tk 195,000) from business/profession. She received Tk 25,116 in interest from the money deposited in her bank account. Her cash in hand and bank deposit totalled Tk 3 lakh 40 thousand 616 (Tk 340,616). She mentioned 10 bhoris of gold jewellery which she stated she had received as a gift from her paternal grandfather. She recorded the value of this as Tk 1 lakh (Tk 100,000).

In the 2012–13 fiscal did she report an income of Tk 9 lakh (Tk 900,000) from a fish business. It remains unknown as to where that fish business operated. Apart from this, she earned Tk 3 lakh 40 thousand (Tk 340,000) from business/profession and Tk 1 lakh 17 thousand 161 (Tk 117,161) as bank interest. She mentioned her total earnings as Tk 13 lakh 67 thousand 61 (Tk 1,367,061) and paid tax of Tk 48,706 on this that fiscal.

Tulip Siddiq did not mention any fish business after the 2012-13 fiscal. After that, the highest income she showed was in the 2014-15 fiscal when she stated her total income as Tk 7 lakh 17 thousand 580 (Tk 717,580). This included Tk 5 lakh 65 thousand (Tk 565,000) from business/profession. The remaining Tk 1 lakh 52 thousand (Tk 152,000) was from bank interest. She paid Tk 42,637 in income tax. She submitted these records to the income department in January 2016.

Tulip is the daughter of Sheikh Rehana, sister of Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister ousted on 5 August last year in the student–people’s uprising. Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is investigating Sheikh Hasina, Sheikh Rehana and their family members on allegations of abuse of power and illicit gain. The trials of three cases are already underway in court. Tulip is accused in these cases. It has been said that Tulip, having special powers as a member of the British parliament, has used the influence of her aunt, the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, to acquire plots in the Purbachal new town project for her mother, sister and brother.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, the ACC Director General (Prevention), Akhter Hossain, said four cases have been lodged against Tulip Siddiq. The charge-sheets in three cases have been submitted to court so far. One case is under investigation. He said, the cases have been filed against Tulip as a Bangladeshi national. Her Bangladesh National Identity card (NID), her passport and income tax records will be placed in court as evidence in the cases.

In the United Kingdom, Labour Party MP Tulip Siddiq served as City Minister, the economic secretary to the Treasury. However, amid criticism following corruption allegations in Bangladesh, she resigned from that position on 14 January.

On 12 August, the British newspaper Financial Times reported on the cases and trials in Bangladesh, noting that Tulip has described the proceedings as “persecution and a farce.”

Tulip Siddiq is the owner of a 2436 sq ft flat on Road 71, Gulshan, Dhaka's posh residential area. The question remains as to how Tulip became the owner of his flat (Flat B/201) in Eastern Harmony, the residential complex constructed by Eastern Housing.

Prothom Alo spoke to senior and relevant officials of Eastern Housing at the company's head office. They admitted that Tulip did have a flat there, but did not divulge further details. They said that ACC had seized all documents regarding Tulip's flat and so they were unable to provide any specific details.

However, a certain source has said that there had been complications regarding the transfer of land of this Eastern Housing project, for which the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakka (RAJUK) was nor giving its approval. It was only after Tulip's aunt Sheikh Hasina became prime minister in 1996 that the approval came through. In exchange, Eastern Housing gave Tulip this flat.

According to the case lodged by ACC, the documents seized from Eastern Housing show that Tulip took possession of the flat on 19 May 2001, even before registration. Later, on 30 October 2002, the deed was made out in Tulip's name at the Gulshan sub-registry office. The deed was made in her name as a Bangladesh citizen.

ACC has seized the concerned documents from Eastern Housing. According to the documents, the flat (24 years ago) was valued at Tk 45 lakh 24 thousand 920 (Tk 4,524,920). Tulip simply paid Tk 2 lakh (Tk 200,000) of the Tk 6 lakh (Tk 600,000) for the car parking area, and took over registration and possession of the flat.

However, despite the information in the housing company's documents, ACC investigations reveal that Tulip used the influence of her aunt, the prime minister at the time, to get RAJUK's approval for Eastern Housing. In return, she was given the house free. After the case in this regard, Tulip's flat was seized upon court order.

ACC director general (prevention) Akhter Hossain told Prothom Alo that Tulip received this flat as a bribe from a housing company. Later she made out a "hiba" ('gift') deed for the flat in her younger sister's name.
According to the documents acquired by Prothom Alo, on 9 June 2016, Tulip handed over the flat as "hiba" (gift) through a notary public to her sister Azmina Siddiq. A month earlier, Tulip had been elected for the first time as a Member of Parliament (MP) from London’s Hampstead and Kilburn constituency in the United Kingdom’s general election.

However, the ACC confirmed that the notary document concerning this gift (hiba") was forged. According to officials involved in the investigation, the false notarization had been done as part of an attempt to conceal the flat’s actual ownership.
On 14 March, a report in the UK newspaper Financial Times stated that a spokesperson for Tulip Siddiq said that no evidence had been presented to support these allegations. Tulip Siddiq had not been contacted about these matters, and she completely denies these claims.

Earlier, a Financial Times report revealed that in London too, Tulip had received a flat unlawfully from a Bangladeshi businessman. The report stated that the flat had been given to Tulip Siddiq by a real estate developer named Abdul Motalif. She did not have to pay anything in exchange for the property. The businessman was known to have connections with individuals close to Sheikh Hasina. The fact that the flat was transferred free of cost appeared in the UK’s land registration records. (Financial Times, 3 January 2025)

In the case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) over allegations of corruption in RAJUK’s plot allocations, on 13 April a Dhaka court issued arrest warrants against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her sister Sheikh Rehana, Sheikh Rehana’s daughter and former British MP Tulip Rizwana Siddiq, her son Radwan Mujib Siddiq, and another daughter, Azmira Siddiq. In response, Tulip’s law firm Stephenson Harwood issued a statement at the time, saying that the ACC was “deliberately harassing” her. Later, Tulip’s lawyer also sent a letter to the ACC on the matter.

On 24 June, ACC Chairman Mohammad Abdul Momen told the media that the case against former UK junior minister Tulip Siddiq had been filed on the basis of specific information and evidence. He added, “To us, Tulip is a Bangladeshi citizen. She has a national ID card and a TIN number. That is why the case was filed against her in Bangladesh.”

Transparency International Bangladesh’s (TIB) Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman told Prothom Alo that if Tulip Siddiq’s income tax records, TIN, and bank transaction documents are accurate, it clearly establishes her Bangladeshi citizenship. If she were not a citizen of this country, she would not have been regularly paying income tax. He said Tulip was making false claims in order to evade investigation and avoid facing the law.

Iftekharuzzaman added that Tulip is a British citizen, was a minister, and is still an MP. This is an embarrassment for the British government. If the British government is respectful of the law, it should investigate Tulip and take appropriate action.