Independent lawmaker and businessperson Haji Mohammad Salim, who went to Thailand for medical treatment on April 30 despite being convicted in a corruption case, will surrender in court after returning home on Friday.
Haji Salim will first get admitted to a private hospital in Dhaka and then surrender through his lawyer before a lower court as per the High Court order, reports Bangla Tribune.
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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.
On February 10, the High Court ordered Haji Salim, the managing director of Madina Group, to surrender within 30 days before a trial court that sentenced him to a 10-year jail term in 2008.
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Sources close to the Awami League leader said that Haji Salim’s lawyers were preparing documents for his surrender.
Haji Salim has been suffering from various physical ailments including heart disease and diabetes. He consults a specific physician at a Bangkok hospital.
The sources also said that the MP wanted to stay back in Bangkok for a while but he could not do so due to criticisms in the media that he had left the country secretly.
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The BNP has also criticized the government for allowing a convict to leave the country while barring its Chairperson Khaleda Zia, a three-time former premier, from advanced treatment abroad.
Haji Salim left for Bangkok on April 30. His protocol officer Sohel, medical assistant Mohammad Ali and personal assistant Mohiuddin Belal accompanied him to the airport.
Belal told Bangla Tribune that the lawmaker was not someone who would flee the country. He went abroad as he needed treatment there. Moreover, he has 30 days to surrender before the court.
ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam wondered how the convicted lawmaker had slipped through the immigration at the airport so easily.
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He said that it was an unusual incident.
On February 10, the High Court published the full text of its 2021 verdict upholding Haji Salim’s 10-year jail term. The court also scrapped an additional three-year jail term for concealing information regarding his wealth.
On that day, his counsel Syed Ahmed Raja said that they would challenge the sentence in the Appellate Division.
Haji Salim appealed against the trial court judgment on October 25, 2009.
On January 2, 2011, the High Court acquitted him of the corruption case, making the anti-graft body appeal against the verdict.
The Appellate Division scrapped the High Court verdict on January 12, 2015 and ordered a fresh hearing.
