Staff Correspondent

The interim government has revoked the income tax exemption for the Shuchona Foundation run by Saima Wazed Putul, daughter of ousted premier Sheikh Hasina.

The tax benefits that individual taxpayers were getting against donations made to the organisation led by Putul have also been cancelled.

On Monday, the National Board of Revenue, or NBR, revoked two Statutory Regulatory Orders, or SROs, in this regard in a notification.

Putul is currently the director of the Southeast Asia region of the World Health Organization, or WHO.

Multiple cases have been filed against Hasina and her daughter since the fall of the Awami League government.

Among them, the ACC has filed a case on the allotment of a plot in Putul's name in Purbachal by “concealment of information and abuse of power”.

Putul, who studied clinical psychology, worked as a school psychologist in the United States.

Her mother 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 regional director for the Southeast Asia Region of WHO at the 76th session of the Regional Committee in New Delhi, India in November 2023

She officially assumed the responsibility in February 2024.

The South-East Asia Regional Office of the WHO is in Delhi, India.

Putul has been there since taking charge, while Hasina has also remained in Delhi since losing power on Aug 5 in the mass uprising.

The organisation has been receiving this benefit since 2016.

Shuchona Foundation, established in 2014 as a non-profit, works with people with mental and neurological disabilities, autism, and mental health problems.

Putul is its founder and chairs its board of trustees.

Earlier on Nov 24, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, or BFIU, had ordered the freezing of Shuchona Foundation's bank accounts.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Commission, or ACC, had reported the organisation “did not exist” after conducting a raid at the office address of the foundation at the former prime minister’s Sudha Sadan residence on Road No. 5 in Dhanmondi.

The ACC said Shuchona Foundation was not found at the house, which has been locked since Aug 5, and its whereabouts remain unknown despite searches in multiple locations.