Beleaguered anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq broke cover yesterday for the first time since her use of homes connected with her deposed aunt were exposed.
The Labour MP was pictured on her way to work at the Treasury as questions continued to mount about the properties linked to the deposed regime in Bangladesh.
It came after it emerged that the Bangladeshi government is seeking Ms Siddiq’s bank account details and transaction records.
The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), the government agency responsible for investigating money laundering and corruption, has sought her bank details.
An order was sent to all 61 banks in the country asking them to hand over any bank account details or records of transactions Ms Siddiq has ever made with them.
The order, in Bengali and seen by the Daily Mail, contained Ms Siddiq’s name, her date of birth, the names of her parents and husband, a former civil servant.
The unit has already frozen the bank accounts of Ms Siddiq’s aunt, Sheikh Hasina Wazed, 77, the former prime minister of Bangladesh who was ousted in August after being accused of being a despot.
Sheikh Hasina was deposed as Bangladesh’s prime minister in August amid allegations of corruption and brutality.
Ms Siddiq, her aunt and mother are being investigated over allegations that £3.9 billion was embezzled from a nuclear power plant project.
A spokesman for Ms Siddiq said of the bank details: ‘No evidence has been presented for these allegations. Tulip has not been contacted by anyone on the matter and totally refutes the claims.’
It is understood that she only holds a UK bank account and does not hold any accounts overseas.
Ms Siddiq, the economic secretary to the Treasury, is responsible for tackling corruption in the financial industry.
She referred herself to Sir Laurie Magnus on Monday following questions about her use of properties linked to her aunt Sheikh Hasina, the deposed former prime minister of Bangladesh.
Sir Keir Starmer said he had confidence in the minister and that she had ‘acted entirely properly’ in referring herself to Sir Laurie.
Ms Siddiq maintains that she has done nothing wrong but has said she will assist insist the inquiry in establishing the facts.
It came after it emerged that she could be quizzed over whether she lied to the Mail on Sunday about the gift of a flat from a developer linked to her aunt.
Downing Street confirmed that a review by the PM’s independent adviser on the ministerial code could examine whether she told the truth about the apartment in London’s King’s Cross.
She denied to the paper in 2022 that the apartment was a gift and insisted that her parents had bought it for her. She also threatened the Mail on Sunday with legal action.
Labour sources later confirmed that the flat was given to her by a property developer linked to her aunt as an ‘act of gratitude’.
A source close to Ms Siddiq told the paper: ‘Tulip’s previous understanding of how she gained ownership of the property has changed.’
The Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate could also have her London properties investigated by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), according to the Times.
The probe would form part of an international hunt for billions of pounds allegedly stolen by her aunt’s regime.
Officials from the agency and HMRC are believed to have visited Dhaka to support the work of investigators late last year, the paper reported.
A source familiar with the investigation said the King’s Cross flat ‘could well be in scope’, as could the house in which she lives, which is owned by a political ally of her aunt.
Ms Siddiq and her family live in a £2.1million semi-detached home owned by Abdul Karim Nazim, an official in the London arm of her aunt’s political party.