It was revealed on Sunday, City minister Tulip Siddiq relocated with her family into a spacious five-bedroom house a few miles away, owned by rich businessman Abdul Karim, after leaving her apartment in North London two years ago.

Ms. Siddiq's aunt, Sheikh Hasina Wazed, a despot who controlled Bangladesh with an iron grip for 15 years before being driven from office in a bloody insurrection last week, gave Mr. Karim exceptional economic privileges last year.

This newspaper repeatedly asked Ms. Siddiq last night how much rent she pays Mr. Karim to live in his big mansion, but she refused.

This newspaper repeatedly asked Ms. Siddiq last night how much rent she pays Mr. Karim to live in his big mansion, but she refused.

A former parliamentary watchdog suggested that she should disclose whether she is paying less than the going rate in the midst of concerns about whether Mr. Karim had profited from letting Ms. Siddiq live in his property while she was making thousands of pounds from renting out her previous family home.

The Treasury Minister's case has echoes of the 'two-homes row' Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner faced before the election, when it was claimed that she rented out her own house while living in her husband's property. Ms Rayner has been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Nigel Farage MP, the Reform leader, urged Ms Siddiq to clarify her living arrangements, adding: 'It just looks murky.' A source close to Ms Siddiq, 41, said she had moved out of her own home and into the rented house for security reasons.

She refused to provide an on-the-record statement last night.

The minister's aunt resigned last Monday following weeks of violent anti-regime protests, during which hundreds were killed by regime security forces.

She has gone into hiding in India with Ms Siddiq's mother, Rehana Siddiq, and is now reportedly seeking to claim asylum in Britain.

Ms Siddiq moved into Mr Karim's suburban house soon after he bought it for £2.1 million in July 2022. Estate agents in the area said that a house of that size, which also has three bathrooms and two reception rooms, would fetch rent of £5,000 a month.

But if Ms Siddiq was paying below market rates, then parliamentary rules require her to make a declaration of it as it is a financial benefit. The minister was recently investigated by the parliamentary watchdog after the MoS revealed that she failed to correctly declare rental income of more than £10,000 on her flat, which she still owns.

The Standards Commissioner found that she breached parliamentary rules but accepted her explanation that it was an 'administrative error'.

Mr Karim is a British 'executive member' of Sheikh Hasina's Awami League political party, and has significant business interests in the country. He is a close family friend of Ms Siddiq.

She and her mother, Rehana, attended the wedding of Mr Karim's daughter at a lavish ceremony in Langley Marish, Berkshire, in 2022.

After Ms Siddiq moved into his house, Sheikh Hasina's government granted Mr Karim special VIP status as a 'Commercially Important Person' (CIP) in Bangladesh last year.

The CIP status affords him automatic invites to state ceremonies and first-class travel along with a letter of introduction from the Bangladesh embassy or mission of any country he visits. After the Treasury minister moved into his house, Mr Karim became the vice-chairman of the Shahjalal Islami Bank in Bangladesh.

He retains a directorship with shares worth £1.2 million.

A source in Bangladesh capital Dhaka claimed that when Mr Karim lobbied to join the bank, despite having no banking experience, he told its directors of his links to Sheikh Hasina.

The source added that calls were then made from the PM's office to lobby the bank on his behalf.

There is no suggestion that Ms Siddiq asked her aunt to make any such calls. Mr Karim then began securing more frequent access to the Bangladeshi PM.

n February last year, Sheikh Hasina held a meeting with Mr Karim at her office in Dhaka, where she lavished praise on him.

The following month Mr Karim opened a new business venture in Bangladesh called the London Tea Exchange.
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He also boasts close ties with the Labour Party. In March last year, Sir Keir Starmer, then Opposition leader, cut the ribbon to re-open Mr Karim's refurbished restaurant called Maharani in Camden, in his North London constituency.

Last night, Sir Alistair Graham, the former Chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said that if Ms Siddiq was paying below market rate in the area, she should declare it.

He said: 'If she moved into a larger house, and she was gaining financial advantage by doing that, then she should have declared that.

'Now whether she should have declared that he [Mr Karim] was an important guy in Bangladesh where her aunt was prime minister is a separate issue. If people are uneasy about the relationship, it should have been more formally declared, then somebody should make a complaint to the Parliamentary Commissioner and ask them to investigate it.'

Sheikh Hasina could not be contacted. But Faruq Syed, the Secretary of the Awami League in Britain, said he was not aware Ms Siddiq was living in Mr Karim's house, and said he also did not know if he received the CIP because of that. He said: 'Tulip Siddiq is an honourable member of this Parliament, and she is a Labour minister and she is doing very good as far we are concerned.'

Mr Karim did not respond to our questions last night. Ms Siddiq declined to provide an on-the-record statement to this newspaper.

Two years ago, it was reported that Ms Siddiq's mother, Rehana Siddiq, was also living in a £1.4 million house in North London, which was owned by the family of Salman F Rahman, one of Bangladesh's richest tycoons who became a minister in Sheikh Hasina's government.

 That property was owned through an offshore company registered in the Isle of Man, which was eventually traced back to Mr Rahman's British-based son.

The Awami League party in Bangladesh has been accused of murders, extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances. Ms Siddiq acted as a spokesman for it before entering British politics.

Ms Siddiq is married to education consultant Christian Percy, 39. They have two children.