Haji Selim won’t have post of MP

Staff Correspondent: Haji Mohammad Selim, MP of Dhaka-6 constituency, has been sentenced to 13 years imprisonment by the High Court in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on charges of illegal acquisition of assets. At the same time, the court sentenced him to one more year of rigorous imprisonment for non-payment of a fine of Tk 10 lakh.
However, his three-year sentence was overturned in a court of law on charges of withholding information. The High Court verdict was upheld yesterday. According to the constitution, Haji Selim will not have the post of MP, said the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan. He made the remarks to the media on Wednesday after Haji Selim was sentenced to 10 years in prison in a corruption case.
Earlier, he had said that after the full verdict of the sentence was announced, it would be conveyed to the Speaker of the National Assembly by the ACC. Speaker Haji Mohammad Selim will then decide on the cancellation of the MP post.
March 9 last year, the High Court ina virtual bench comprising JusticeMoinul Islam Chowdhury and Justice AKM Zahirul Haque pronounced the verdict. The verdict was released on Wednesday after the judge signed it.
He was ordered to surrender within 30 days of the verdict. If he does not surrender, the High Court has asked the Judicial (Lower) Court to issue an arrest warrant against him.
The court in its judgment said that the appeal of the convicted Haji Mohammad Selim was amended (partial acceptance and partial rejection) by the judgment of the Judicial Court and the appeal under section 27 of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act, 2004 was accepted. The appeal part 26 (1) of this Act was dismissed.
Earlier, the High Court had fixed March 9 for the verdict after hearing the appeal filed by Haji Selim on February 24 last year. On the appointed day, the relevant virtual bench of the High Court pronounced the verdict on the appeal filed by MP Haji Mohammad Selim.
On October 24, 2006, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed a case against Haji Selim at Lalbagh Police Station alleging illegal acquisition of assets. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison on April 26, 2006. Besides, a fine of Tk 20 lakh was also imposed.
On October 25, 2009, Haji Selim appealed to the High Court against the verdict. On January 2, 2011, the High Court quashed his sentence. Later, the ACC appealed against the High Court verdict.
Following the hearing of the appeal, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court quashed the judgment of the High Court on January 12, 2015. At the same time, the High Court was asked to re-hear the appeal (of Haji Selim). After that the appeal was not heard for about five years. Recently, the ACC took the initiative to hear the appeal.
Following this, on November 11, 2020, the High Court summoned all the documents (LCR) of the case in the Judicial Court. After a few days of hearing, the appeal was waited for verdict on February 24 last year.
The case was heard in court on behalf of the ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan. Haji Selim was represented by senior lawyer Abdul Baset Majumder and lawyer Saeed Ahmed Raja. Attorney General AM Amin Uddin appeared for the state. He was accompanied by Deputy Attorney General Asaduzzaman Monir and Assistant Attorney General Tamanna Ferdous.