No letter received from British MP Tulip, Press Secretary Shafiqul says
Staff Correspondent
The Chief Advisor’s Office has said it has yet to receive the letter that British MP Tulip Siddiq, niece of Bangladesh's ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, claims to have sent requesting a meeting with interim government head Muhammad Yunus.
On Sunday, Chief Advisor’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam told bdnews24.com: “We have received no letter from her so far.”
Tulip requested the meeting with Yunus during his upcoming visit to London to “clear the air” over allegations of corruption against her in her country of origin.
In the letter, the Hampstead and Highgate MP who stepped down from a ministerial role earlier this year, reportedly invited Yunus to a lunch or afternoon tea at the House of Commons.
The chief advisor, accompanied by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Chairman Abdul Momen and Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur, is scheduled to leave Dhaka for the UK on a bilateral visit on Monday.
They are travelling with the chief advisor primarily to advance efforts to retrieve back money laundered from Bangladesh during deposed premier Hasina’s tenure.
It is in connection with this trip that Tulip claims to have sent the letter requesting to meet with Yunus.
Referring to the letter, the press secretary said: “We have been on Eid-ul-Azha holiday since Jun 5. We will depart for the United Kingdom at 7:30pm on Monday. Since we have yet to receive the letter, there is no opportunity to comment on the matter.”
However, a source close to Tulip told that the British MP has yet to receive any response to the letter from Yunus or his office.
According to the source, Tulip does not understand why the ACC is after her. Instead of contacting her in London, they are sending letters to her address at Dhaka’s Sudha Sadan.
Tulip wants to meet with Yunus and explain everything to him. She has all the papers and wants to show them to him, the source added.
In the letter, Tulip said the meeting could also “clear up the misunderstanding perpetuated by the ACC in Dhaka.
Tulip is the Labour Party MP for Hampstead and Highgate in London. Following allegations of irregularities and corruption against her in both Bangladesh and the UK, she stepped down from her position as a City minister at the UK Treasury amid criticism in January.
Her aunt Hasina is currently in India. In her absence, the interim government is moving forward with proceedings against her for crimes against humanity.
In addition, several corruption cases have been filed against Hasina and members of her family — in which Tulip's name has also appeared.
WHAT THE LETTER CONTAINS
In the letter dated Jun 4, 2025, she wrote:
“I would like to invite you to join me for lunch or afternoon tea at the House of Commons whilst you are here.”
Tulip said that she and Yunus “share a passion and commitment to public service” and would be interested in hearing his thoughts on trying to “safeguard due process, good governance, and the rule of law”.
“I am a UK citizen, born in London and representing the people of Hampstead and Highgate in Parliament for the last decade. I have no property nor any business interests whatsoever in Bangladesh. The country is dear to my heart but it is not the country where I was born, live in or have built my career in,” she wrote.
“I have sought to clarify with the ACC but they refuse to engage with my lawyers in London and apparently keep sending correspondence to a random address in Dhaka. Every move in this fantasy investigation is briefed to the media and, yet no engagement was facilitated with my legal team. I know you’ll appreciate how important it is to ensure those reports do not become a distraction from the critical work of doing my very best for my constituents and my country.”
She said she would be extremely grateful to clear up the “confusion” ahead of the meeting and added that she would share rebuttals from her lawyers to the ACC as well as the report from the UK parliamentary standards commissioner.
