Why Tulip Siddiq, Sheikh Hasina’s niece, resigned as UK minister

An independent review has confirmed that I have not breached the Ministerial Code and there is no evidence to suggest I have acted improperly.

Nonetheless, to avoid distraction for the Government, I have resigned as City Minister.

Here is my full letter to the Prime Minister. pic.twitter.com/kZeWZfEsei

— Tulip Siddiq (@TulipSiddiq) January 14, 2025

Although a UK investigation by Sir Laurie Magnus, the adviser on ministerial standards, found no evidence of impropriety on Siddiq’s part, Sir Laurie said that it was “regrettable” that the Labour MP had not been more alert to the “potential reputational risks” of the ties to her aunt.

Siddiq has denied all allegations.

Who is Tulip Siddiq?

Siddiq, 42, has been Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, previously Hampstead and Kilburn, since 2015. After the Labour Party was voted to power last July, she was appointed Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister.

Siddiq’s mother Sheikh Rehana is the younger sister of Sheikh Hasina, and the daughter of the late ‘Bangabandhu’ Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding leader of Bangladesh. Rehana was granted political asylum in the UK after much of her family — her parents, three brothers, two sisters-in-law, and other relatives — were assassinated in Dhaka on August 15,1975 during a military coup. Hasina and Rehana survived because they were in Germany at the time.

Rehana got married to Shafique Ahmed Siddique, a Bangladesh academic, in 1977, and gave birth to Tulip in London in 1982. Siddiq grew up in the UK, where she joined the Labour Party at the age of just 16.

Prior to her parliamentary career, Siddiq worked for Amnesty International, Save The Children and the Greater London Authority, among others. She was also an active member in the UK wing of the Awami League (UK AL), the party led by her aunt in Bangladesh, and one of the party’s international spokespersons.

As an MP, she is perhaps best known for her spirited campaign to secure the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian citizen who was detained in Iran from 2016-22.

What are the allegations against Siddiq?

There are three separate allegations against Siddiq, all of which have to do with her links to Hasina and the Awami League. Notably, all three allegations were made in Bangladesh after Siddiq’s aunt was unceremoniously ousted from power last August.

1. 01

   Allegation 1: Siddiq has financially benefited from 3 properties in London, linked to Hasina and her allies

   An ongoing Bangladesh anti-corruption probe into the Hasina regime has flagged three properties linked to Siddiq, that she has financially benefited from courtesy her link to the Awami League.

   The properties in question, according to Sky News, are:

   1. A 2.1 million pound house in Finchley, north London, currently rented by Siddiq and owned by businessman Abdul Karim Nazim, an executive member of UK AL;
   2. A flat in King’s Cross owned by Siddiq that, according to the Financial Times, was gifted to her by Abdul Motalif, a real-estate developer linked to the Awami League — not by her parents, as she previously reported; and
   3. A property in Hampstead, north London, that Siddiq was registered at and was transferred to her then teenage sister in 2009 by lawyer Moin Ghani, who has represented the Hasina government in international forums.
2. 02

   Allegation 2: Siddiq embezzled funds for Rooppur nuclear power plant in collusion with Russian officials

   Dhaka and Moscow in 2013 signed a deal to construct the Rooppur nuclear power plant, the first such plant in Bangladesh.

   Siddiq has been named in documents submitted to the High Court Division of the Bangladesh Supreme Court as allegedly helping her aunt broker the deal with Russia, and embezzling funds by artificially inflating the construction costs of the plant.

   The documents allege that Siddiq sipohoned some $5 billion from the project’s budget “in collusion with Russian officials”. Siddiq was pictured with Hasina and Russia President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin in 2013.

   Notably, the documents in question were submitted to the court by Bobby Hajjaj, a political opponent of Hasina and the founder-president of the Nationalist Democratic Movement. Hajjaj has been among the most vocal critics of Siddiq in recent weeks.

3. 03

   Allegation 3: Siddiq was involved in the illegal allocation of plots of land in Dhaka

   The Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Commission has alleged that Siddiq was involved in the illegal allocation of plots of land to her mother, sister, and brother in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone.

   According to an affidavit, seen by Sky News, “While serving as a Member of the British parliament, it is known that [Siddiq] exerted pressure and influence on her aunt, the former prime minister, to take measures for the allotment of plots in the same project in the names of her mother, Mrs Rehana Siddiq, her sister Ms Azmina Siddiq, and her brother Mr Radwan Mujib Siddiq.”

   Siddiq has denied all allegations against her, and no hard evidence has yet been made public about the claims made.

What did the UK probe find?

In light of these allegations, and pressure from the Opposition, Siddiq referred herself to Sir Laurie, who spent eight days looking into the claims made.

According to his appraisal, Sir Laurie said that he had “not identified evidence of improprieties connected with the actions taken by Ms Siddiq and/or her husband in relation to their ownership or occupation of the London properties that have been the subject of press attention.” He further added that he “found no evidence to suggest that Ms Siddiq’s and/or her husband’s financial assets, as disclosed to [him], derive from anything other than legitimate means.”

He said that Siddiq was a “prominent member of one of the principal families involved in Bangladesh politics” which had “exposed her to allegations of misconduct by association”, and that it was “regrettable that she was not more alert to the potential reputational risks — both to her and the government — arising from her close family’s association with Bangladesh”.

That said, Sir Laurie’s investigation was short and rather limited in its scope, concerned simply with regards to determining if Siddiq had breached the UK Ministerial Code, a document which sets out the rules and standards for all ministers in the UK government.