Saima Wazed, daughter of ousted Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina, has resigned as the World Health Organization’s regional director for Southeast Asia following investigations into alleged fraud and other irregularities, Reuters reported.
Wazed resigned on Wednesday, according to a resignation letter seen by Reuters, ending her tenure at the WHO amid investigations by the UN agency and Bangladeshi authorities.
Reuters reporters Krishna N Das and Jennifer Rigby reported that the WHO had placed Wazed on unpaid administrative leave late last year. The resignation comes as the political fallout from Hasina’s ouster continues to affect members of her family and close associates. Wazed has denied the allegations.
Hasina was forced to resign and flee Bangladesh in August 2024 following a deadly student-led uprising that grew into a mass movement against her government. She was initially sent on leave in July 2025 after Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission, under the interim government that succeeded Hasina, filed charges against her in March 2025 alleging fraud and forgery. 2026 letter from Wazed’s lawyers to the WHO, seen by Reuters, the agency accused her of committing financial fraud linked to travel to China and of misrepresenting her academic credentials, according to a separate July 3. In 2024, protests initially triggered by opposition to a quota system for government jobs developed into a broader anti-government movement. More than 300 people were killed in the unrest, according to contemporary Hindustan Times reports. Hasina resigned on August 5 and fled to India, where she has remained since. Earlier reporting noted: The WHO placed Wazed, who took office as its Southeast Asia regional director in early 2024 for a five-year term, on unpaid administrative leave late last year. She was first sent on leave in July 2025 after Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission, under an interim government that replaced Hasina, filed charges against her in March that year alleging fraud and forgery.
The WHO also alleged that Wazed had illegally acquired a plot of land in Bangladesh, according to her resignation letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Wazed said she had acquired the land before joining the WHO and was entitled to it under a Bangladeshi law covering the families of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s founding leader and Hasina’s father. In her resignation letter, Wazed said she had been elected to serve the countries in the Southeast Asian region but had been prevented from effectively performing her duties. Earlier reporting noted: The WHO accused Wazed of “committing financial fraud in relation to her travel to China” and of misrepresenting her academic credentials, according to a separate letter from her lawyers to the WHO on July 3, 2026, seen by Reuters.
Earlier reporting noted: Saima Wazed, the World Health Organization’s Southeast Asia head and daughter of ousted Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, resigned on Wednesday, according to her resignation letter seen by Reuters, following fraud investigations by the UN agency and Bangladeshi authorities.
