Back in 2013, Shaheen Siddique, aunt of UK anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq and a close associate of Bangaldesh’s ousted leader Sheikh Hasina, was denied a Maltese citizenship by Henley & Partners.

Revealed through leaked documents seen by the Financial Times, Henley & Partners rejected her application, noting her association to Prochhaya, a company accused by Bangladeshi media outlets of “illegally obtaining valuable government lands in Dhaka.”

In 2012, Ms Siddique chaired Prochhaya, a role she had listed in her passport application.

She is married to Tarique Ahmed Siddique, a former army officer who served as Sheikh Hasina’s security adviser. In October last year, Bangladeshi authorities froze the couple’s bank accounts of following student-led protests that marked the end of Sheikh Hasina’s 16-year rule.

The passport application documents provide insights into how Mr Siddique’s family, now central to concerns over kleptocracy during Sheikh Hasina’s administration, managed their affairs.

Critics of Sheikh Hasina’s rule have stated that Mr Siddique, used the country’s security forces to occupy land for Prochhaya. In 2016, the company sold the land. This week, an arrest warrant was issued by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal for Mr Siddique related to enforced disappearances.

Ms Siddique applied twice for a Maltese passport: in 2013 and 2015. The second application included her daughter Bushra, the first cousin of Tulip Siddiq, the UK’s City Minister who is tasked with handling illicit finance.

Costs for the Maltese citizenship would have been €650,000 for Shaheen, €25,000 for Bushra and a €70,000 fee for Henley & Partners.

The second application does not mention Prochhaya but instead lists her company as “The Art Press Pvt Ltd”, based in Chattogram, southern Bangaldesh.

Maltese authorities had sought more information about the new company, which it was described as a business started by Ms Siddique’s grandfather in 1926. The company’s main operation was printing and Ms Siddique was listed as the company Managing Director since 2013.

This application was rejected once again.

Henley & Partners confirmed with Financial Times that the the Siddiques never received a passport.