Haji Salim sent to jail upon surrender
BI Report || BusinessInsider
Haji Mohammad Salim. Photo: Business Insider Bangladesh
A Dhaka court sent Awami League lawmaker Haji Mohammad Salim to jail after he surrendered before it on Sunday afternoon.
He surrendered before the Dhaka Special Judge’s Court 7 after 3pm and appealed for a conditional bail. However, the judge dismissed the bail plea and issued an order to send him to jail.
Haji Salim, who was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in a graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), went to Bangkok for treatment on May 2 and returned home on May 5. But his overseas trip sparked huge controversy as he is a convict.
On February 10, the full text of the High Court’s verdict was published upholding his 10-year imprisonment.
The HC asked him to surrender to the trial court within 30 days of receiving the verdict.
The HC directed the trial court to cancel the bail order of the MP and issue an arrest warrant against him if he does not surrender within the given time.
ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam told the media that after this verdict, Haji Salim has lost the eligibility to remain an MP according to the article 66 (2) of the constitution.
On March 9 last year, the HC bench of Justice Md Moinul Islam Chowdhury and Justice AKM Zahirul Huq upheld the lower court order sentencing him to 10 years in jail after hearing a petition by the ACC.
At the same time, the Dhaka-7 MP was acquitted of a three-year jail term in the same case filed by the ACC for concealing wealth information.
The HC also reduced the fine imposed on Salim by half to Tk 10 lakh. He will have to spend one more year in jail if he fails to pay the fine.
In 2007, the ACC filed the case against Salim. On April 27, 2008, a Dhaka court jailed him for 13 years and fined Tk 20 lakh.
He moved to the HC against the verdict.
In 2011, the court overturned his sentence but the ACC later appealed against the lower court verdict.
Later, the Appellate Division asked the HC to re-hear the petition.
Irregularities of Salim resurfaced after his son Irfan Salim was arrested for assaulting a navy official in 2020.
