Tulip Siddiq, a UK City Minister and niece of the ousted Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, resided in a property allegedly gifted to her family by an associate of Hasina's regime, according to a report by The Sunday Times.
The report, published on 4 January, states that Siddiq utilised a flat on Finchley Road in Hampstead, North London, after it was transferred to her without charge by her younger sister, Azmina.
Azmina had acquired the property from Moin Ghani, a Bangladeshi lawyer and former representative of Hasina's government, in 2009.
This revelation follows a Financial Times report on 3 January, which disclosed that Siddiq was gifted an apartment in Central London by Abdul Motalif, a developer associated with individuals connected to Hasina.
This occurred before Hasina’s removal from power in August last year after widespread uprisings.
According to previously undisclosed Land Registry records, Tulip Siddiq, the current Economic Secretary to the Treasury, was granted a two-bedroom flat near King's Cross in 2004 without any financial transaction, as reported by the Financial Times.
Concerning the Hampstead flat, The Sunday Times details that Land Registry documents reveal the property was transferred to Siddiq “not for money or anything of monetary value.” Azmina was 18 at the time and preparing to commence her studies at Oxford University. Although the exact timeline of Siddiq's move into the flat is unclear, she listed it as her residence when appointed as a director of the Working Men's College education institute in December 2012.
Further listings of the Hampstead address include Tulip Siddiq's trustee positions at the Camden Arts Centre in January 2014 and the Hampstead Wells and Campden Trust in March 2014.
Her husband, Christian Percy, continued to list the property as his address until May 2016, by which time Tulip Siddiq had become the Labour MP for Hampstead & Kilburn.
Azmina sold the residence for £650,000 in 2021. By then, Ghani, the previous owner, had spent years advising Bangladesh in international disputes and was nominated by Hasina's government in 2021 for a role on a World Bank panel.
The Hampstead flat is separate from the King's Cross apartment, which, according to the Financial Times, was gifted to Siddiq by Abdul Motalif in 2004.
This property, which Siddiq still owns, was previously occupied by Ghani.
Siddiq declined to comment publicly.
However, a source close to her mentioned to The Sunday Times that her residency at her sister’s property was a common family practice.
The source added that housing arrangements of other family members were their concern and that the political affiliations of others were irrelevant to Siddiq.
