‘No proof’ found of Shuchona Foundation run by Hasina’s daughter Putul: ACC

The ACC says Putul used the organisation to forcibly take handouts from different social and business organisations

The Anti-Corruption Commission says that a raid at the office address of the Shuchona Foundation, an organisation run by the daughter of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, has not turned up any proof of its existence.

It also raided documents related to the foundation at the National Board of Revenue, uncovering various financial irregularities, including tax waivers, said ACC Deputy Director Akhtarul Islam.

He told reporters on Wednesday that a four-member enforcement team led by ACC Assistant Director Naushad Ali conducted a raid at the Shuchona Foundation’s Dhanmondi office, which was provided by the NBR and the Department of Social Services.

Hasina’s daughter Saima Wazed Putul is now the director of the Southeast Asia region of the World Health Organization, or WHO. More than a hundred cases have been filed against Hasina since the fall of the Awami League government. Several cases have also been filed against her daughter Putul. The ACC filed a case over “keeping information secret and abuse of power” in the allocation of a plot of land in Putul’s name in Purbachal.

The Shuchona Foundation, a voluntary, non-profit organisation established in 2014, works with people with intellectual disabilities, neurological disabilities, autism, and mental health issues. Putul was its founder and chairperson of the board of trustees.

The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, or BFIU, sent instructions to various banks and financial institutions in the country to freeze the foundation's bank accounts last November.

The ACC says Putul used the organisation to “embezzle money” by “forcibly soliciting donations” from various social and business organisations. The watchdog alleges that “using her unlawful influence” Putul got the NBR to categorise the foundation as tax-free, causing huge “losses” for the government.

Regarding the corruption allegations against Putul, the ACC says that she “embezzled huge amounts of state money” by “showing fake projects” through the Autism Cell of the Health Department of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Putul, who studied clinical psychology, worked as a school psychologist in the United States. Her mother Hasina appointed her as the chairperson of the Bangladesh National Advisory Committee on Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Later, she was also made a member of the WHO’s Expert Advisory Panel on Mental Health.

Putul was elected as the director of the organisation's Southeast Asia region at the 76th session of the WHO's Regional Committee in New Delhi, India in November 2023. She formally assumed the responsibility in February 2024.

The WHO's South-East Asia Regional Office is in Delhi. Putul has been there since taking charge. Hasina has also been in Delhi since she was ousted from power by a student-led mass movement on Aug 5.

The ACC says that Hasina made “immoral” use of her power to appoint her daughter Putul as the regional director of the WHO “despite her lack of qualifications.” It also says she took her daughter on various state visits without any reason.

In the case of Putul, her experience and qualifications are “only on paper”, according to the summary prepared by the ACC.

The ACC document states that Hasina took Putul to India for the G-20 summit in 2023 to cover up her “incompetence”.

Similarly, on the occasion of the 76th WHO conference, more than a hundred officials and delegates stayed in Delhi from Oct 30 to Nov 2, 2023, in a “waste” of state funds, it said.

The ACC said that Putul had engaged in various “criminal activities” by resorting to “corruption” and “abusing her mother's political influence”.

On Jan 12, the ACC filed a case against Putul, Hasina and 16 others for allegedly illegally allocating government land to Putul in the Purbachal New City project.