Sheikh Hasina's niece and UK City Minister Tulip Siddique is under increasing scrutiny after reports emerged that she received a flat in London as a gift from a developer linked to the former Awami League-led Bangladesh government.
She is expected to come under more pressure for taking a two-bedroom apartment without spending any money, Bloomberg reported on Saturday (January 4).

The media outlet says that UK City Minister Tulip Siddique is coming under increasing scrutiny after reports emerged that she received a property in central London as a gift from a developer linked to the former Bangladesh government.

Tulip Siddique received a two-bedroom apartment near King's Cross in 2004 without paying anything, the Financial Times reported on Friday. The media outlet originally brought this information to light by citing previously unreported land registry filings.

According to the Financial Times report, the two-bedroom flat in London's King's Cross was gifted to Tulip in 2004 by a developer named Abdul Motalif. Motalif is known to be a close associate of the ousted Prime Minister of Bangladesh and Tulip's aunt, Sheikh Hasina. Hasina resigned from the post of Prime Minister in August last year in the face of mass student and public protests and fled to India.

According to the Financial Times investigation, Abdul Motalif bought the flat in January 2001 for 195,000 pounds (293,000 taka in Bangladeshi currency). He got the flat quite cheaply. Because in August of the same year, another flat next to that flat was sold for 650,000 pounds (979,000 taka in Bangladeshi currency).

Bloomberg says that the news that Tulip Siddique received a flat in central London as a gift from a developer associated with the former Awami League-led government in Bangladesh may increase the pressure on her. Although Tulip denied any involvement in the corruption allegations after her name came up in a separate corruption investigation in Bangladesh last month, the allegations have created an embarrassing situation for the ruling government in the UK. Because Tulip Siddique's role as a city minister could raise questions about the country's fight against financial corruption.
Tulip Siddique is originally a member of the ruling Labour cabinet in Britain, serving as Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister. Her job is to tackle corruption within the UK's financial markets.
Bloomberg says that Tulip Siddique did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the allegations. However, a spokesperson for Tulip Siddique told the Financial Times, “The idea that Tulip Siddique supports the Awami League with her ownership of this property or any other property would be clearly wrong.”
On the other hand, Abdul Motalif, 70, currently lives in east London with a man named Mujibul Islam. Mujibul Islam is the son of a former Awami League MP. The Financial Times contacted him for details. Mujibul Islam admitted that he bought the flat in 2001.
But he refused to provide any further information on the matter.
Earlier, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her family were accused of embezzling huge amounts of money from Bangladesh’s infrastructure projects. And the investigation of that allegation also named Tulip Siddique, Sheikh Hasina’s niece and a minister in the UK’s ruling Labour Party.
And last month, she was questioned by UK officials in the case. The country’s Cabinet Office’s Justice and Ethics team questioned her.
The Sunday Times reported at the time that Tulip Siddique had agreed to meet with a representative of the Cabinet Office's Justice and Ethics Team (PET) after allegations of corruption emerged. The PET official visited Tulip Siddique's office on December 19. Tulip later responded to the official's allegations of corruption in the £10 billion Rooppur project.