A parliamentary inquiry into HSBC’s relationship with Beijing will look at allegations that a Chinese executive was protected from accusations of sexual assault by his role as a senior Communist Party official.

The allegations are part of a dossier compiled for the foreign affairs select committee before a hearing this week at which Noel Quinn, HSBC’s chief executive, and Colin Bell, its head of compliance, will be questioned about the bank’s freezing of the account of a Hong Kong pro-democracy activist.

The bankers have been called to testify after HSBC locked the bank accounts of Ted Hui, a former politician who fled to Britain last month, and those of members of his family. The bank said that it was “required to comply with the law in every jurisdiction in which we operate”.

According to The Sunday Telegraph, ministers are concerned that Chinese Communist Party members employed in senior roles at the bank could influence HSBC’s operations.

MPs have been told that a former employee in Shanghai reported sexual assaults to the bank in 2014 but was sacked later for “incompetent work”. She implied that her sacking was because of political pressure as her assailant was a party member.