Haji Salim back amid controversy

Ruling Awami League lawmaker Haji Mohammad Salim, who has been convicted in a corruption case, returns after five days of Thailand visit, which an ACC lawyer calls a "wilful violation of court order".    

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, however, says Haji Salim went abroad and returned in accordance with the law.

Salim arrived in Dhaka on a Thai Airways flight at 12:15pm yesterday. From the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, he went directly to a Namaz-e-Janaza in Old Dhaka, said Mohiuddin Mahmud, his personal secretary.

The lawmaker left for Bangkok on April 30, raising questions on the legitimacy of travel abroad despite being sentenced to jail for 10 years.

Talking to journalists at the Bangladesh Secretariat around 3:00pm yesterday, the home minister said, "Haji Salim went to Bangkok for urgent treatment, and he has come back.

"Whatever legal questions may arise, he is a member of parliament. He respects the law. He went abroad abiding by the law."

He also said, "After the High Court delivers a verdict, the official copy of the verdict arrives too. Haji Salim went abroad and came back before implementation of the judgment.

"Therefore, nothing is there to create confusion, and hopefully the matter is clear now."

Contacted, Anti-Corruption Commission's lawyer Khurshid Alam, who is dealing the case against Salim, said, "It is a wilful violation of court order. A convicted person cannot leave the country without the court's permission."

He also said they would raise the issue before the court.

In 2008, a Dhaka court convicted Salim of corruption and sentenced him to 10 years in jail with a Tk 10 lakh fine in the case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission.

The ACC accused the lawmaker of accumulating wealth worth Tk 14.65 crore beyond known sources of his income.

On March 9 last year, the High Court upheld a lower court's verdict that convicted and sentenced Haji Salim to 10 years.

The full verdict was released on February 10 and the High Court directed him to surrender before the Dhaka Special Judge's Court-7 within 30 days of receiving a copy of the verdict.

If he fails to do so within the given time, the Dhaka court can issue an arrest warrant for him, said the HC.

According to his counsel Sayeed Ahmed Raza, the lawmaker received the copy of the full verdict, and the 30-day period will be over on May 24.

Haji Salim might surrender to the trial court and appeal before the Supreme for bail on May 16, added the lawyer.

There is also a debate over his parliament membership as, according to the constitution, he should have lost it following the HC verdict.

Article 66 of the constitution reads: "A person shall be disqualified for election as, or for being, a member of parliament who has been, on conviction for a criminal offence involving moral turpitude, sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than two years, unless a period of five years has elapsed since his release."

But the matter is still pending and he continues to hold the parliament membership.