Former City Minister Tulip Siddiq was last night facing questions about whether she misled Parliament over the ownership of a flat in her native Bangladesh.
The £600,000 apartment in the capital Dhaka is the subject of an asset-freezing order at the request of the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission, which is investigating the Labour MP.
Ms Siddiq, 42, who denies any wrongdoing, has told the Mail she received the flat as a gift from her parents in 2002 and transferred it ‘lawfully and legitimately’ to her sister, Azmina, 34, within weeks of being elected to Parliament in May 2015.
Entries in Westminster’s Register of Members’ Interests state she co-owned the property with a family member in June 2015 and by the following month ownership had been transferred.
But searches made last week by the Mail at the Dhaka Sub Registry Office appear to show that Ms Siddiq still owns the flat, as the ACC alleges. A Bangladeshi court will now decide who owns it.
Last month, the ACC said Ms Siddiq tried to ‘transfer’ ownership of the flat to Azmina in 2015 using a Heba, an Islamic document which allows a person to hand over an asset to a family member ‘out of love’.
However, experts say under Bangladeshi law a property transfer is not considered legal until its ownership is changed at the Sub Registry Office.
The ACC claimed the Heba was ‘fake’, as the barrister who authenticated it denied being involved and alleged that his signature was faked.
Former City Minister Tulip Siddiq (pictured) was last night facing questions about whether she misled Parliament over the ownership of a flat in her native Bangladesh
Vladimir Putin, third right, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, third left, and Tulip Siddiq, left, attend a signing ceremony in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia
Ms Siddiq, 42, who denies any wrongdoing, has told the Mail she received the flat as a gift from her parents in 2002
Ms Siddiq’s lawyers, however, said the Heba was executed correctly and she declared the flat was ‘co-owned with a family member’ since all rental income went to her sister.
Her representatives have called the ACC allegations ‘false and vexatious’.
Last night her lawyer, Paul Thwaite, said a Bangladeshi legal expert had told him the Heba document was sufficient for a transfer and the Registry records were ‘unreliable’. He said it was ‘untrue and nonsensical’ to suggest Ms Siddiq had misled parliament.
Ms Siddiq resigned as City minister in January over a £700,000 London flat given to her by a UK-based property developer linked to her aunt Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted as prime minister of Bangladesh in August.
She had claimed to the Mail in 2022 that it had been bought for her by her parents.
An investigation by Sir Laurie Magnus found Ms Siddiq had inadvertently misled the public.
On X last week, Ms Siddiq described the ACC allegations against her as ‘baseless’.
She said: ‘Here in the U.K., we have due process, the rule of law and a tradition of fair play. I would happily respond to any legitimate questions, but I will not be drawn into dirty politics, nor allow their witch-hunt to undermine my work as a British citizen and proud member of the U.K. Parliament.’
