Saima Wazed, the World Health Organization’s Southeast Asia regional director and daughter of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, resigned on Wednesday amid fraud investigations by the WHO and Bangladeshi authorities, according to her resignation letter reviewed by Reuters.
Wazed, who began her five-year term as regional director in early 2024, was placed on unpaid administrative leave by the WHO late last year. She was initially sent on leave in July 2025 after Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission filed fraud and forgery charges against her in March.
According to a July 3, 2026 letter from her lawyers to the WHO, the agency accused Wazed of financial fraud linked to a trip to China and of misrepresenting her academic credentials. Wazed has denied the allegations.
The WHO also accused her of illegally acquiring a plot of land in Bangladesh. In her resignation letter, Wazed said she obtained the land before joining the WHO and was legally entitled to it under a Bangladeshi law covering the families of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s founding leader and Hasina’s father.
