Anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq was under pressure to quit last night after it emerged she had lied about receiving a London flat as a gift.
The Mail on Sunday has repeatedly asked Ms Siddiq if she was given the two-bedroom apartment, now worth £700,000, previously owned by a property developer connected to her Bangladeshi dictator aunt.
She has denied it was a gift, instead insisting that her parents had bought it for her. She also threatened the MoS with legal action.
Now, however, Labour sources have confirmed that the King’s Cross flat was indeed given to her by the developer as an ‘act of gratitude’.
Ms Siddiq, 42, whose role is to stamp out corruption in Britain’s financial sector, is under investigation in her native Bangladesh, where she and four family members are accused of embezzling £3.9 billion from a nuclear power plant.
Last night, Tory MPs demanded she stands down as Treasury minister unless she explains herself.
Bob Blackman, the Tory MP for Harrow East, said: ‘Ms Siddiq needs to clarify the position in relation to her property dealings and explain what was stated originally and why. If she does not, her position as a minister is untenable.’
Matt Vickers MP, Shadow Home Office minister, added: ‘Allegations of this nature against any member of government are unacceptable, but are even more questionable when the minister is Starmer’s anti-corruption minister.’
Labour sources have confirmed that the King’s Cross flat was indeed given to minister Tulip Siddiq by the developer as an ‘act of gratitude
Ms Siddiq previously denied the flat was a gift and insisted it was bought for her by her parents
And Ben Obese-Jecty, the Tory MP for Huntingdon, said: ‘This new information about Tulip Siddiq is troubling. Now that it has been shown the flat was gifted to her and not purchased by her as previously claimed, Tulip Siddiq has further questions to answer.’
Labour sources last night told the MoS that in 2022, when we first made enquiries, Ms Siddiq was told by her family that the flat was bought from a house sale. But apparently the family’s recollections changed last week.
A Labour insider yesterday told the Financial Times: ‘Following financial support provided by Tulip’s parents to an acquaintance during a challenging time in his life, he subsequently transferred a property he owned into Tulip’s ownership as an act of gratitude for her parents’ support.’
Immediately after the FT published its story, Labour sources contacted the MoS to reiterate they did not ‘deliberately mislead’ us three years ago.
Ms Siddiq declined to comment, but a source close to her said: ‘Tulip’s previous understanding of how she gained ownership of the property has changed. As soon as she realised the error she ensured the journalist who enquired previously was informed.’
Land Registry records showed Ms Siddiq became the sole owner of the third-floor flat in November 2004, when she would have just finished her MA at King’s College, London, and had no known income. The property had no mortgage and no price on it, suggesting it was not bought but transferred to her.
We established that the previous owner of the flat was Abdul Motalif, now 70, a fellow Bangladeshi, who bought the property in 2001 for £195,000.
In April 2022, when we asked Ms Siddiq if the property was given to her as a gift, we were told by the Labour party in an email: ‘When Tulip’s parents separated over 20 years ago, they sold their family home and bought the King’s Cross flat with the proceeds. Any suggestion this money came from any other source is entirely wrong and defamatory.’
Land Registry records showed Ms Siddiq became the sole owner of the third-floor flat in November 2004, when she had just finished a masters degree at King’s College London
We further delved into Ms Siddiq’s family background, and found no evidence of them selling a house around 2002 or earlier.
In July, we sent further questions to Ms Siddiq and the Labour party, but she threatened us with legal action.
An email from her Parliamentary account said: ‘The allegations you have set out are inaccurate and highly damaging. Tulip will not hesitate to take legal action if they are included in any article you plan to publish.’
She added: ‘As previously stated, Tulip Siddiq’s parents sold their family home and used the proceeds to buy the flat.’
Ms Siddiq’s claims prevented us from publishing our story.
Mr Motalif is connected to the Awami League, the repressive Bangladeshi political party that was led by Ms Siddiq’s aunt, Sheikh Hasina Wazed, ousted in August. He could not be contacted for comment.
Ms Siddiq’s aunt is former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed, who was ousted last August
Ms Siddiq has been renting this property out since at least 2013, when she first declared the rent while a Labour councillor in Camden, North London.
Parliamentary records show she receives over £10,000 in rent from the property, whose lease was renewed by Ms Siddiq in 2018 for £95,000.
Last July, Ms Siddiq became the first MP in the new Parliament to be investigated by Parliamentary Standards after the MoS revealed she did not declare rental income from a second property for 14 months.
Parliamentary rules state rental income has to be declared within 28 days. She was cleared by the Standards Commissioner, who accepted the rule-breaking was ‘inadvertent’.
