TDS Desk:

ACC Deputy Director and Public Relations Officer Md Akhtarul Islam said that Saima Wazed Putul’s appointment to a prestigious position at the World Health Organization (WHO) is damaging to the country’s reputation.

He, on Sunday, said the ACC has taken several steps regarding allegations that former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s daughter, Saima Wazed Putul, was appointed as WHO’s regional director through misuse of state resources and procedural irregularities.

In a statement sent to the media, Akhtarul Islam said that preliminary findings from an investigation into complaints received by the ACC indicate that state resources were misused, and irregularities were committed to securing Saima Wazed Putul’s appointment as the regional director for WHO’s Southeast Asia region with Bangladesh’s nomination.

A review of information from various sources suggests that Saima Wazed Putul was included in multiple state visits without justification. Additionally, the qualifications provided for her candidacy were found to be inaccurate. It has also emerged that at the time of her nomination, she was a Canadian passport holder, making her a citizen of Canada.

The statement further mentioned that during WHO’s 76th conference, held in Delhi from October 30 to November 2, 2023, over a hundred officials and delegates from Bangladesh attended the event at the expense of state funds. Saima Wazed Putul allegedly leveraged her family’s influence and the misuse of political power by close relatives, causing significant financial losses to the Bangladesh government.

A separate ACC investigation into another allegation revealed that Saima Wazed Putul illegally acquired a 10-katha plot in the diplomatic zone of the Purbachal New Town Residential Project in Dhaka by corruption and her family’s political influence. Consequently, the ACC has already filed a case against her and others.

Additionally, she allegedly established an organization called “Shuchona Foundation,” through which she extorted gifts and embezzled funds from various social and business institutions. She is accused of misusing the Autism Cell under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to fabricate fraudulent projects, siphoning substantial government funds for personal gain.

The allegations further state that she exerted undue influence on the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to exempt the foundation’s received funds from taxation, leading to significant financial losses for the government.