A senior Labour minister faced pressing questions last night after it was revealed that she lives in a £2million house owned by a close political ally of her aunt, the former authoritarian prime minister of Bangladesh.

As the Mail on Sunday reveals, City minister Tulip Siddiq moved out of her north London flat two years ago and moved with her family into a large five-bedroom house a few miles away owned by a family friend, millionaire businessman Abdul Karim.

Last year, Mr Karim was granted special business privileges by Ms Siddiq’s aunt, Sheikh Hasina Wazed, the dictator who ruled Bangladesh with an iron fist for 15 years before being ousted from power in a violent uprising last week.

Last night, despite repeated requests from this newspaper, Ms Siddiq refused to say how much rent she pays Mr Karim to live in his large house.

A former parliamentary controller said if she was paying less than market price she should declare it. Questions were also raised about whether Mr Karim had benefited from letting Ms Siddiq live in his house while she earned thousands of pounds renting out her former family home.

Tulip Siddiq moved out of her north London flat two years ago and moved with her family into a large five-bedroom house a few miles away

PREVIOUS RESIDENCE: The flat Tulip Siddiq owns in North London. She moved out two years ago

Last year, Mr Karim received special business privileges from Ms Siddiq’s aunt, Sheikh Hasina Wazed (pictured).

The finance minister’s case is reminiscent of the “two-house dispute” that Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner faced before the election, when she was accused of renting out her own home while living in her husband’s house. Mrs Rayner was cleared of any wrongdoing.

Nigel Farage, MP and leader of the Reform Movement, urged Ms Siddiq to clarify her housing situation, adding: “It just looks grim.” A source close to Ms Siddiq, 41, said she had moved out of her own home and into the rented accommodation for safety reasons.

She refused to make an official statement last night.

The minister’s aunt resigned last Monday after weeks of violent protests against the regime in which hundreds of people were killed by the regime’s security forces.

She has gone into hiding in India with Ms Siddiq’s mother, Rehana Siddiq, and is now reportedly trying to apply for asylum in the UK.

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

However, if Ms Siddiq paid below market price, then under parliamentary rules she is required to declare this as it is a financial benefit. The minister was recently investigated by the parliamentary watchdog after the department revealed that she had failed to correctly declare rental income of over £10,000 for her flat, which she still owns.

The Standards Commissioner found that she had breached parliamentary rules, but agreed with her statement that it had been an “administrative error”.

City Minister Tulip Siddiq with family friend Abdul Karim

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

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

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

The CIP status entitles him to automatic invitations to state ceremonies and first-class travel, as well as a letter of recommendation from the Bangladeshi embassy or mission of every country he visits. After the finance 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 the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka claims that when Mr Karim applied to join the bank despite having no banking experience, he told its directors about his links with Sheikh Hasina.

The source added that calls were then made from the Prime Minister’s office to lobby the bank on his behalf.

There is no indication that Ms Siddiq asked her aunt to make such calls. Mr Karim then began to make more frequent contact with the Bangladeshi Prime Minister.

Angela Rayner was previously questioned over claims she rented out her own home while living in her husband’s estate

In February last year, Sheikh Hasina met Mr Karim in her office in Dhaka and praised him profusely.

The following month, Mr. Karim opened a new business called London Tea Exchange in Bangladesh.

He also boasts of his close links with the Labour Party. In March last year, Sir Keir Starmer, then leader of the opposition, cut the ribbon to reopen Mr Karim’s refurbished restaurant, called Maharani, in Camden, his north London constituency.

Last night, Sir Alistair Graham, former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said that if Ms Siddiq was paying less than market price in her area, she should disclose this.

He said: “If she moved to a bigger house and gained a financial advantage as a result, then she should have declared it.”

“Whether she should have explained that he (Mr Karim) was an important man in Bangladesh, where her aunt was prime minister, is another question. If people are uncomfortable about the relationship, she should have explained it more officially and then someone should lodge a complaint with the Parliamentary Commissioner and ask him to investigate the matter.”

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

Mr Karim did not respond to our questions last night. Ms Siddiq declined to give an official statement to this newspaper.

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

The property was owned by an offshore company based on the Isle of Man, the ownership of which was ultimately traced back to Mr Rahman’s son living in the UK.

The Awami League in Bangladesh is accused of murders, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. Ms Siddiq was a spokesperson for the party before moving into British politics.

Mrs Siddiq is married to 39-year-old education consultant Christian Percy. They have two children.