The hearing of an appeal filed by Awami League lawmaker Haji Mohammad Selim against his 13-year jail sentence, for amassing illegal wealth, started on Sunday.
The hearing started in the High Court bench of Justice Md Moinul Islam Chowdhury and Justice AKM Zahirul Haque.
Advocate Md Khurshid Alam Khan stood for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and Advocate Sayed Ahmed Raja represented Haji Selim. And Assistant Attorney General Tamanna Ferdous moved for the state.
“The state is now placing its argument in the hearing. Earlier, I presented the first information report (FIR) of the case to the High Court,” Khurshid Alam said.
On November 11 last year, the High Court asked for the documents of the corruption case, following a petition filed by the ACC on November 9.
In 2007, the anti-corruption watchdog filed the case against Selim for “amassing wealth illegally.”
On April 27, 2008, a Dhaka court sentenced him to 13 years’ imprisonment and fined Tk20 lakh. However, Selim appealed to the High Court against the judgment.
In 2011, the court cancelled Selim’s sentence, but the ACC later appealed the lower court verdict.
Irregularities of Haji Salim resurfaced after his son Irfan Selim was arrested for assaulting a navy official.
On October 26, a case was filed against Irfan Selim, son of Dhaka-7 MP Haji Selim, on the charge of “attacking” Lieutenant Wasif Ahmed Khan of Bangladesh Navy at Dhaka’s Dhanmondi on October 23.
According to the case statement, a car hit the motorcycle of Lieutenant Wasif near Labaid Hospital at Dhanmondi on October 23 when he and his wife were returning to their Mohammadpur residence from Nilkhet.
Some people including Irfan came out of the car and physically assaulted the navy officer and verbally abused his wife.
Later, Rapid Action Battalion arrested Irfan from his father’s residence on Devdas Lane in Old Dhaka.
Two firearms, 38 walkie-talkies and liquor were seized from Irfan’s house during the drive. On October 27, the government also suspended Irfan from the post of councillor.
