Tulip Siddique is under pressure to resign due to a property scandal.

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UK Cities Minister Tulip Siddique is under increasing pressure to resign after being embroiled in a scandal involving the ousted Bangladeshi government.

The minister has lived in several properties linked to her aunt, Bangladesh’s former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who is tasked with fighting corruption and the Awami League party. He was accused of defrauding the country’s banking system, though he denied the claim.

“It is time for Tulip Siddiq to explain the source of her wealth and any proceeds from her aunt’s corrupt practices,” said shadow minister Chris Phillips.

Sir Keir Starmer has called for her to be removed from the role of anti-corruption minister until these questions are answered. . . The fact that the Prime Minister does not answer any questions and does not take any action shows that he lacks strength and integrity.

While Starmer is still standing by Siddique, a senior Labor official told the FTA that the party leadership is finding it “very difficult to defend” her personal financial affairs and her position is growing untenable. “It’s becoming a millstone,” they said.

The FT reported on Friday that Siddique became the owner of a two-bedroom flat near King’s Cross in 2004. The property was bought three years ago for £195,000 from Abdul Motalif, a developer with links to top Awami League figures. A similar flat to this property, still with a Siddiq, sold for £650,000 in August.

Over the weekend, the Sunday Times first reported that Siddiq had moved in with her sister Moin Ghani, a prominent lawyer who now represents the Awami League-led government of Bangladesh, at a separate property in Hampstead. People familiar with Siddiq’s position confirmed her living conditions.

Ghani previously registered his address as King’s Cross Flats. He did not respond to the inquiry.

Abdul Karim, who is renting a £2.1million house in East Finchley, is an executive member of the UK wing of the Awami League. She moved into the property outside her constituency shortly after it was purchased in July 2022, according to Land Registry documents.

Siddiq’s partner said she was paying “market rates” and that the landlord-tenant relationship between her and Karim was properly declared to parliamentary officials.

Sheikh Hasina resigned as Prime Minister following student protests and violence last year. Bangladesh’s interim government has accused top officials of its regime of siphoning money from the banking system to acquire overseas assets. They denied the claim.

Maintaining that she has done nothing wrong, Siddiq has given conflicting explanations for how she came to own the property in King’s Cross. According to the Mail on Sunday, she told reporters that the flat was originally bought by her parents.

“Tulip’s previous understanding of how she acquired ownership of the property has changed,” said a person familiar with her position.

The person added that Siddiq’s parents had in fact “funded” the acquaintance and the developer subsequently transferred the property they owned to Siddiq as a “thank you gesture”.

When Siddique got the property, she did not pay any tax because it was a gift and was exempt from stamp duty, the person said.

On Sunday, a person familiar with the details explained that Siddiq’s parents’ financial support to Motalif was paid in full before the property was transferred. Therefore, they said that she did not owe any stamp duty and that she had taken legal advice for this.

A senior UK official working on UK policy to prevent kleptocracy told the FTA: “The challenge here is ‘I got a gift from this person out of gratitude; Because my politically exposed family helped him’. . . We spend our time telling the banks that it is not good enough.