FORMER City minister Tulip Siddiq has been sentenced to four years in jail by a court in Bangladesh.

Her aunt, former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, was given a 10-year term by the same court over a corruption case involving a government township project near the capital Dhaka. 

Following Ms Hasina’s overthrow, attention has focused on extensive property acquisitions in Britain by her allies — a Guardian and Transparency International investigation in 2024 put their value at at least £400 million, with suspicions the purchases were a means of laundering the proceeds of corruption.

But Labour said today that it “cannot recognise this judgment” after senior lawyers said that the north London MP had not been given a fair legal process.

Ms Siddiq continues to represent the Hampstead and Highgate seat in Parliament.

Bangladesh’s corruption watchdog filed the cases alleging that Ms Hasina colluded with government officials to illegally secure six plots in the Purbachal New Town Project for herself and her family members, despite their ineligibility under government regulations.

After a similar case last year, for which Ms Siddiq was given a two-year sentence, the MP said she had been tried by a “kangaroo court” and added she would not be “distracted by the dirty politics of Bangladesh.”

Lawyers including former Conservative justice secretary Robert Buckland and ex-attorney general Dominic Grieve have criticised the handling of the case in Bangladesh.

A Labour spokesman said: “As has been reported, highly regarded senior legal professionals have highlighted that Tulip Siddiq has not had access to a fair legal process in this case and has never been informed of the details of the charges against her.

“This is despite repeated requests made to the Bangladeshi authorities through her legal team.”