British lawmaker Tulip Siddiq said a Bangladeshi court process which has sentenced her in absentia to two years in prison was "flawed and farcical" and said the verdict should be treated with contempt.

"This whole process has been flawed and farcical from the beginning to the end. The outcome of this kangaroo court is as predictable as it is unjustified," she told Britain's Guardian newspaper on Monday.

Siddiq, the niece of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, resigned as Britain's minister responsible for financial services and anti-corruption efforts in January after scrutiny over her financial ties to Hasina but she remains a member of parliament. She has previously dismissed the allegations as a "politically motivated smear".

She had been embroiled in a controversy surrounding claims she benefited from properties paid for or owned by figures linked to Hasina’s Awami League party which was ousted from power last year.

Former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who is Siddiq's aunt, was sentenced in absentia to five years in jail and her sister Rehana to seven.

All three were fined 100,000 taka ($820.00) each, and failure to pay will result in an additional six months in prison, the court said.

Britain does not have an extradition treaty with Bangladesh.

Hasina's representatives did not respond immediately to a request for comment by Reuters.

Prosecutors said that the land in the capital Dhaka, measuring roughly 13,610 square feet (1,264 square metres), was unlawfully allocated through political influence and collusion with senior officials.

They said the three powerful defendants, Siddiq, Hasina and Rehana, abused their authority to secure the plot during Hasina’s tenure as prime minister.

The land was supposed to be used for a new township to ease housing and population pressure in Dhaka, the court heard.

Fourteen other people also charged in the case were sentenced to five years in prison.