City Minister Tulip Siddique has been given a flat in central London by someone linked to the party of the recently ousted Bangladesh government.
FriendThe economic secretary to the Treasury was handed over a two-bedroom flat near King's Cross in 2004 without any payment being made, according to previously unreported Land Registry files.
The records indicate that the donor is Abdul Muttalib, a developer and associate of people linked to Siddiq's aunt, the ousted former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, and leader of the Awami League party.
Records show that the King's Cross property, which a friend still owns, was bought in January 2001 for £195,000. An adjacent flat in the building was sold in August for £650,000.
A spokesman for the minister said: “Any suggestion that Tulip Siddique’s ownership of this property, or any other property is in any way linked to support for the Awami League, would be completely false.”
Motaleve confirmed to the Financial Times in a phone call that he had bought the King's Cross property but declined to comment on what he had done with it.
“Following the financial support provided by Tulip’s parents to an acquaintance during a difficult period in his life, he then transferred a property he then owned to Tulip’s estate as a token of gratitude for her parents’ support,” a person familiar with the matter said. .
Details of the gift raise new questions about Al-Siddiq's ability to distance herself from corruption allegations His name is in the investigation Last month by the Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Commission.
The investigation in Bangladesh came after one of Sheikh Hasina's political rivals accused her family, including a friend, of taking a stake in a Russian-backed nuclear energy project, which the family denied.
Members of Sheikh Hasina's Awami League were also accused money transfer From the banking system of Bangladesh to purchase properties in the UK, USA, UAE and Singapore. They denied these accusations.
Al-Siddiq holds a position in the British government that includes responsibility for anti-money laundering measures and clamping down on illicit financing.
Electoral roll data shows that a friend lived in the King's Cross flat in the early 2000s, and that her siblings resided at the property for several years after that. Friend declared rental income from two apartments in the MP's declaration of financial interests.
Mutalfe, now 70, lives in south-east London. Companies House records show he is listed as the owner of a small property services company that has now been dissolved.
Electoral roll data shows that Moin Ghani, the lawyer who became the representative of the Awami League-led government, was allowed to be elected. Photographed With Sheikh Hasina to live in the King's Cross apartment before giving it to a friend. Ghani did not respond to a request for comment.
The data also shows that Mutalef shared his residential address in south-east London with Mujibul Islam, the son of a former Awami League MP, between 2014 and 2024.
Mutalef and Islam confirmed that they were registered at a south-east London address.
According to Land Registry files, the King's Cross estate was filed before Siddiq became an MP, meaning she was not required to disclose it.
The papers show that in 2018, a friend extended the lease on the King's Cross property for £90,000. She also bought an apartment jointly with her husband for £865,000 in her London constituency of Hampstead and Highgate.
Land registry documents indicate that there is no mortgage on either apartment.
Five years after a friend bought a flat with her husband in her constituency, he “paid off the remainder of the mortgage using only the couple's own money,” the person familiar with the matter said.
Siddiq was reprimanded by Parliament's standards commissioner last year after she failed to disclose rental income at her constituency flat.
Before becoming an MP in 2015, Siddiq worked for several charities and as a consultant to Philip Gould Associates, the firm of the late Labor colleague and strategist.
This was done by Muhammad Yunus, head of the interim government of Bangladesh, which took power in August He described the Awami League as “fascist.”. Rival parties and human rights groups accuse it of rigging elections, carrying out extrajudicial killings and seizing state institutions.
Sheikh Hasina last month denied that she had ordered security forces to use lethal force against protesters, and claimed that the allegations against her were “false propaganda.”
Downing Street said last month that British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer “has confidence” in Siddiq, adding that she “denied any involvement in the allegations made” about the Russian-backed nuclear power plant.
British government officials also said they had seen no evidence of wrongdoing by Siddiq.
Friend has been a member of the Labor Party since she was 16 years old. But she also worked for a period of time within the Awami League's “lobbying unit and election strategy team” in the EU and UK, according to Labour. Blog post It has since been deleted.
Awami League affiliates based in the UK have He campaigned alongside the friend In several British general elections, including the vote last year that brought Labor to power, according to people familiar with the matter.
“Without your help, I would never have been able to stand here as an MP,” Siddiq told a crowd of Awami League supporters in 2015, shortly after she became an MP, at a ceremony in London to honor Sheikh Hasina.
Since 2022, a friend has rented a £2.1 million London home owned by Abdul Karim, an executive member of the British wing of the Awami League. She moved to the property outside her constituency after purchasing it in July 2022, according to the filings.
One of Al-Siddiq’s allies said she was paying “market prices” and that the relationship between her and Karim had been properly declared to parliamentary authorities.
