British City Minister Tulip Siddique was gifted a flat in London by a businessman close to Awami League. But two years ago, Tulip claimed that her parents had bought her this flat.
Tulip even threatened legal action for questioning the issue. The British media Daily Mail reported this information in a report on Sunday (January 5).
Anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddique has been under pressure to resign since last night after media reports revealed she lied about receiving a free flat in London as a gift.
Tulip Siddiq originally got a two-bedroom apartment near London’s King’s Cross in 2004 without paying anything, the Financial Times reported last Friday. This information was brought to the fore by the media citing previously unpublished land registry filings.
According to the report of the Financial Times, the 2-bedroom flat located in the King’s Cross area of London was gifted to Tulip in 2004 by a developer named Abdul Motalif. Motalif is known to be close to Sheikh Hasina, the ousted prime minister of Bangladesh and Tulip’s aunt. In August last year, Hasina fled to India after resigning from the post of Prime Minister in the face of mass protests by students.
According to the Financial Times investigation, Abdul Motalif bought the flat in January 2001 for 1 lakh 95 thousand pounds (Tk 2 crore 93 lakh 97 thousand in Bangladeshi currency). He got the flat very cheaply. Because in the month of August of the same year, another flat adjacent to that flat was sold for 6 lakh 50 thousand pounds (Tk 9 crore 79 lakh 97 thousand in Bangladeshi currency).
The Mail on Sunday repeatedly asked Tulip Siddique, the two-bedroom apartment she was given — now worth £700,000 — previously owned by a developer businessman with ties to her Bangladeshi dictator aunt (Sheikh Hasina), the Daily Mail reports.
But Tulip Siddique then repeatedly denied giving it to her as a gift. Instead he insisted—his parents had bought it for him. At one point he even threatened MOS (Mail on Sunday) with legal action.
But now several Labor Party sources have confirmed that the flat in London’s King’s Cross was indeed given to him by a developer as a “thank you”, the media reports.
Originally Tulip Siddiq is a member of Britain’s ruling Labor cabinet, serving as Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister. His job is to tackle corruption within the UK financial markets. But he is now under investigation in his native Bangladesh, where he and four family members are accused of embezzling nearly $4 billion from a nuclear power plant.
The Daily Mail says Tory MPs last night demanded Tulip’s resignation. MPs from Britain’s opposition Conservative Party have told Tulip to resign as Treasury minister if she cannot provide an acceptable explanation for receiving the flat gift.
Tory MP Bob Blackman said: “Tulip Siddique needs to come clean about her property dealings and explain what actually happened and why. If he does not do that, he cannot continue his work as a minister.”
Shadow Home Office Minister Matt Vickers MP, on the other hand, said: “Such accusations against any member of the government are unacceptable, and even more questionable when that minister is (British Prime Minister) Starmer’s anti-corruption minister.”
Tulip could increase pressure on Siddique as the news of a central London flat gift from a developer associated with the former government of Bangladesh led by the Awami League came to light. However, he denied involvement in corruption allegations after Tulip was named in a separate corruption probe in Bangladesh last month. And this allegation has created an embarrassing situation for the ruling government of the United Kingdom. Because Tulip Siddique’s role as city minister could raise questions about tackling financial corruption in the country.
Business Bangladesh/DS