The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday said that it did not have any information about Canadian citizenship of Saima Wazed Putul, daughter of the ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who was appointed as regional director for South-East Asia at the World Health Organisation in the past year.
鈥榃e have no information about Canadian citizenship of Saima Wazed. Officials concerned at the time [of her WHO appointment] could have known about it,鈥� said foreign ministry spokesperson Mohammad Rafiqul Alam at the weekly media briefing at the ministry in the capital Dhaka.
He made the statements in response to a question whether the ministry was aware of Saima鈥檚 Canadian citizenship while she was appointed as the WHO regional director for South-East Asia during the authoritarian regime of Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India amid a student-led mass uprising on August 5, 2024.
Saima began a five-year term on February 1, 2024 at the WHO regional office in New Delhi of India after her appointment to the post in January.
The Anti-Corruption Commission on Sunday said that the commission found corruption of Saima Wazed Putul in getting appointment as the WHO regional director for South-East Asia.
It also detected that during the submission of nomination, Saima was a Canadian citizen with valid passport of that country.
ACC director general (prevention) Aktar Hossain while talking to reporters at the commission鈥檚 head office in the Dhaka city on Sunday said that an ACC enquiry found that Saima had misused the state resources and adopted unlawful activities for securing the appointment at WHO.