Almost three days before Sheikh Hasina fled Bangladesh accompanied by her sister Sheikh Rehana and Security Advisor Maj Gen (Retired) Tarique Ahmed Siddique, sensing possible ouster of Awami League government, Gen Siddique asked his confidante Major (Retired) Sharif, who resides in Malaysia, to made necessary arrangements for smuggling-out more than US$86 million, which was stored at the official residence of the Security Advisor inside Dhaka Cantonment. Accordingly, Maj Sharif coordinated the transfer through a hawala trader in Dhaka’s Gulshan area and the cash was shifted to a number of locations, including Britain and Greece. Subsequently, with newly smuggled-out cash, several posh apartments were purchased at Arnes city in Sacromonte (sometimes also called Sacramonte) at the cost of a few million dollars.

According to credible sources, Maj Gen (Retired) Tarique Siddique is planning to obtain residency in Greece along with his wife Shaheen Siddique and daughter Nowreen Siddique, as he wants to relocate from his current location in the United Kingdom. It is also learnt, Gen Siddique, his family members as well as a very large number of leaders and Kleptocrats of Awami League have purchased citizenship in a number of Caribbean Island nations. Details of this matter shall be revealed in details in upcoming reports.

The same source claimed, during 2009-2024 rule of Awami League, Maj Gen Siddique made billions of dollars through rampant corruption while he also was key handler of dirty cash of Sheikh Rehana and her son – Redwan Mujib Bobby. Recently purchased posh apartments in Arnes city in Greece will ultimately go into ownership of Siddique’s wife and daughter as well as Sheikh Rehana, her son Bobby and daughters, including UK Labour Party MP Tulip Siddiq.

Tulip Siddiq, the shadow-minister in the UK although once publicly termed her aunt Sheikh Hasina as the mentor and source of inspiration, for the past few years, she began hiding her connections with Bangladesh’s iron lady for the sake of her political career in Britain, despite the fact, for all these years, she has been a beneficiary of her mother Sheikh Rehana’s massive corruption.

In 2015, The Daily Mail in a report claimed, Tulip Siddiq accompanied her aunt Sheikh Hasina to Russia in 2013 as special envoy and mediated an arms deal worth £1bn. She also held a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin to discuss the arms deal alongside a few more projects – including the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP).

In another report, Daily Mail accused Tulip Siddiq of living in a £1 million house owned by millionaire businessman named Abdul Karim, who also is a close aid of ousted autocratic ruler Sheikh Hasina.

According to the report, Tulip Siddiq moved out of the flat she owns in North London two years ago and moved with her family into a large five-bedroom home a few miles away that is owned by Abdul Karim as Sheikh Hasina granted special business privileges to Karim.

Tulip Siddiq did not disclose the amount of rent she is paying to Abdul Karim for using the house.

The report said, Tulip Siddiq moved into Karim’s suburban house soon after he bought it for £2.1 million in July 2022. Estate agents in the area told Daily Mail that a house of that size, which also has three bathrooms and two reception rooms, would fetch rent of £5,000 a month.

Abdul Karim is a British ‘executive member’ of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League, and has significant business interests in the country. He is a close family friend of Tulip Siddiq. She and her mother, Sheikh Rehana, attended the wedding of Karim’s daughter at a lavish ceremony in Langley Marish, Berkshire, in 2022.

After Tulip Siddiq moved into Karim’s house, Sheikh Hasina’s government granted Karim special VIP status as a ‘Commercially Important Person’ (CIP) in Bangladesh in 2023.

The CIP status affords him automatic invites to state ceremonies and first-class travel along with a letter of introduction from the Bangladesh embassy or mission of any country he visits. After Tulip Siddiq moved into his house, Abdul Karim became the vice-chairman of the Shahjalal Islami Bank in Bangladesh.

He retains a directorship with shares worth £1.2 million.

A source in Bangladesh capital Dhaka told Daily Mail that when Abdul Karim lobbied to join the bank, despite having no banking experience, he told its directors of his links to Sheikh Hasina.

Meanwhile, according to a credible source, in exchange for special business privileges, then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked Abdul Karim to “gift” the house to her niece Tulip under the garb of rental arrangement.

Tulip Siddiq has been receiving honorarium amounting to £30,000 from her aunt Sheikh Hasina since February 2009. This amount reached Tulip Siddiq in cash via one of Hasina’s confidantes in London.

Another source said, in 2009, Tarique Ahmed Siddique floated ‘Prochchhaya Limited’ in Bangladesh and another company named Zumana Investments in the United Kingdom. Zumana Investments was used for laundering millions of dollars into offshore accounts in various countries.

One of the most highlighted allegations against Siddique involves an extremely valuable prime piece of land in the heart of Dhaka’s Hatirjheel area. This valuable property, allegedly acquired through Prochachaya Limited (Incorporation certificate number C-75659/09, dated March 28, 2009), a company linked to Siddique’s wife Shaheen Siddiqui – was later sold to Nasa Group, a controversial business conglomerate, for over five billion Bangladeshi takas.

The Registration Number and Memorandum and Articles of Association of Prochhaya Limited were issued through the Certificate of Incorporation by the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh on 25 March 2009 through its Issue Number 27052-58. The Registration Number of Prochhaya Limited is C-75659/09. Trade License of Prochhaya Limited was issued by Dhaka City Corporation, Dhaka on 09 April 2009 through its Issue Number 1243. The Trade License Number of the company is 0434843.

Following illegal occupation of the land at Hatirjheel area, at the direct instructions of Major General (retired) Tarique Ahmed Siddique, Ansar camp was set at the property while top officials of the country’s intelligence agencies played a role in protecting this illegal occupation.

According to a source, Maj Gen Tarique Ahmed Siddique had intimacy and numerous secret business dealings with Nasa Group. By blackmailing Aziz Mohammad Bhai, a controversial businessman who has been on the run since 2007, Siddique forced Aziz to sell his industrial enterprise named ‘Bengal Steel Limited’, located on valuable land at Tejgaon Industrial Area to Nasa Group. Gen Siddique paid one-fourth of the existing market price, while the entire amount was sent to Aziz Mohammad Bhai through illegal channels.

It is also learnt that, for many years, with active collaboration of Aziz Mohammad Bhai, Gen Siddique was jointly running business at Dhaka and Chittagong Stock Exchange, while the duo made tons of cash through share market manipulation.

To be continued…

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