British city minister Tulip Siddiq lived in a second property reportedly given to her family by an ally of her aunt, now deposed Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina, reported The Telegraph on Saturday.
Tulip Siddiq, a labour minister who is responsible for tackling financial crimes and corruption, lived in a flat in Hampstead, north London, after it was given to her to use by her teenage sister, Azmina, said the British daily report available online.
Earlier, British newspaper The Financial Times reported that British city minister Tulip Siddiq was given a central London apartment by a person linked to the Awami League, led by Sheikh Hasina.
A Bangladeshi lawyer, who was found to be photographed with the former prime minister, handed the Hampstead property to Azmina in 2009, said the report quoting Sunday Times, another British newspaper.
Land registry documents state that the transfer was 鈥榥ot for money or anything that has a monetary value鈥�. Azmina was 18 at the time and about to begin her studies at Oxford University, mentioned the report.
On Saturday night, Downing Street insisted that the prime minister still had confidence in Siddiq. Following the fall of Sheikh Hasina, Tulip Siddiq was facing queries over her ties to her aunt and the latest claims would raise questions over her position, the report said.
The Telegraph report said that in December, Bangladesh鈥檚 Anti-Corruption Commission reportedly launched investigations into Tulip鈥檚 family over allegations of embezzlement. She faced questions over claims that she and four family members embezzled 拢4 billion through a nuclear power plant deal in Bangladesh, although sources close to Siddiq had dismissed the claims as false, the report added.
The Cabinet Office propriety and ethics team questioned Siddiq over the allegations. The Anti-Corruption Commission launched its investigation into Tulip Siddiq, along with her mother, Sheikh Rehana Siddiq, 69, and aunt, Sheikh Hasina, 77, the report mentioned.
Tulip Siddiq has listed the Hampstead flat as her residence on several official documents, the report added.
Tulip Siddiq鈥檚 mother Sheikh Rehana Siddiq is the younger sister of Sheikh Hasina. The two sisters survived the massacre perpetrated by a group of army personnel on August 15, 1975, killing their father and the founding president of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and mother Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib and all three of their brothers.
