Labour minister Tulip Siddiq given 2 free cricket tickets from firm with links to Bangladeshi MP in her aunt’s party
TULIP Siddiq was given freebie tickets to two top cricket matches by a company with links to a Bangladeshi MP in her aunt’s party.
Teatulia UK gave the Labour MP seats and lunch for World Cup games featuring Bangladesh worth £717 in 2019.
And the Sun on Sunday can reveal the firm is linked to Kazi Nabil Ahmed of the Awami League headed by Ms Siddiq’s aunt — ousted bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina.
The MPs’ register of interests fails to say which matches Ms Siddiq attended.
But Bangladesh played New Zealand at the Oval on June 5 and faced Pakistan at Lord’s on July 5.
Both featured Bangladesh wicket keeper and batter Mushfiqur Rahim.
The UK-based tea company had a shop in Covent Garden which closed after the pandemic before the company was dissolved in 2023.
Mr Nabil Ahmed is a director of Gemcon Group – a conglomerate which owns the Kazi & Kazi Tea Estate which sells the Teatulia branded tea.
Details of the company funding emerged last year in a vicious court battle between the three investors and Teatulia’s UK-based director.
The latest revelation comes as Ms Siddiq is under fierce pressure over connections to her aunt’s party.
It was recently revealed Ms Siddiq was given a £700,000 London flat by a supporter of the Awami League and her sister received a £650,000 property from one of her aunt’s advisers.
Matt Vickers, Shadow Home Office Minister, said: “Time is running out for Tulip Siddiq to come clean.
“The ever growing reports of her allegedly dodgy links, and the financial benefits and gifts these have brought, are deeply concerning, and yet Keir Starmer and Tulip Siddiq still refuse to provide any real answers.
“Starmer must not let his close friendship with her get in the way of doing the right thing. At a time when the economy is in such turmoil and the Chancellor out of the country, the government cannot afford this distraction.”
Mr Nabil Ahmed and his two brothers claimed in a hearing in the Royal Courts of Justice in London that they were the sole investors of the UK company, according to reports.
Another source confirmed to the Sun on Sunday that Mr Nabil Ahmed was one of the business’ funders.
A spokesperson for Tulip Siddiq said: “This was declared transparently and in line with the rules.”
Ms Siddiq has referred herself to the ministerial standards watchdog following allegations about the properties linked to the Awami League.
Her team has insisted it was “categorically wrong” to suggest the properties were linked to her support for the Awami League.