Independent lawmaker and businessperson Haji Mohammad Selim has left the country for Thailand for medical treatment, a close aide confirms.
A member of the Dhaka south unit Awami League’s Advisory Council, Haji Salim went to Bangkok from Dhaka airport on Saturday afternoon despite being convicted in a graft case, according to media reports that created much hype on Monday.
The aide told Dhaka Tribune on Monday evening that the MP would return to the country within a week after treatment.
On February 10, the High Court ordered Haji Salim, the managing director of Madina Group, to surrender before a trial court that sentenced him to a 10-year jail term within 30 days.
Also Read - Haji Selim ordered to surrender in trial court by 30 days
The same day, the court published the full text of its 2021 verdict upholding his 10-year jail term in the graft case and scrapped an additional three-year jail term for concealing information regarding his wealth.
The lawmaker’s counsel Syed Ahmed Raja said that they would challenge the sentence in the Appellate Division.
Also Read - High Court upholds 10-year jail term for Haji Salim in wealth case
The case was filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) during the military-backed caretaker government in 2007 for accumulating wealth worth Tk14.65 crore beyond known sources of his income.
In 2008, a Dhaka court convicted Dhaka-7 MP Haji Salim of corruption and sentenced him to 10 years in jail with a Tk1,000,000 fine.