Tulip Siddiq Why MP's links to deposed Bangladesh regime are under scrutiny

Tulip Siddiq reacted with anger when she was confronted in 2017 by reporters from Channel 4 asking her to intervene in the case of Ahmad bin Quasem, a British-educated lawyer allegedly abducted in Bangladesh by the regime of her aunt, Sheikh Hasina.

- Kiran Stacey, Rowena Mason, Redwan Ahmed

"Are you aware that I am a British MP and that I'm born in London?" she asked Alex Thomson, the channel's chief correspondent. "Are you implying that I'm a Bangladeshi? Because I don't think that's the right thing to imply."

Despite Siddiq's insistence that she had little to do with her aunt's now deposed government in Dhaka, the City minister is now under pressure to explain why she has benefited from property paid for by people connected with that regime.

Siddiq, who has responsibility for UK anti-corruption policy, has referred herself to Laurie Magnus, the prime minister's independent adviser on ministerial standards, to decide whether she has broken the ministerial code.

But whatever Magnus concludes, critics say Siddiq's desire to distance herself from her family's authoritarian regime in Bangladesh has glossed over how close she really is to them and their Awami League party.

"Siddiq's position is that she has no relationship with the Awami League or Bangladeshi politics, but the truth is she has been a major beneficiary of the Awami League," said David Bergman, a Dhaka-based investigative journalist.

Rose Whiffen, a senior research officer at Transparency International UK, said: "Since Sheikh Hasina was swept from power in Bangladesh, there has been greater scrutiny over the support received by her niece from senior Awami League figures.