HC to rehear appeal against sentencing Haji Salim in ACC case

The High Court (HC) will again hear the appeal of Haji Mohammad Salim, MP, against a 13-year jail sentence in a corruption case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), which was ordered for hearing by the Appellate Division six years ago.  

The appeal was on the first position on the agenda of the virtual High Court (HC) bench of Justice Md Moinul Islam Chowdhury and Justice AKM Zahirul Huq on Tuesday. 

When the ACC applied for the hearing, the court said that the hearing schedule will be announced after the arrival of the case documents from the judicial court. 

Earlier, on Monday, the ACC had applied for a hearing date of the appeal. Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan stood for the ACC in the court, while Deputy Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman Monir represented the state. 

The ACC filed a case against Haji Salim at Lalbagh Police Station on 24 October, 2007 for illegally amassing assets. A lower court sentenced Haji Salim to 13 years of jail on 27 April, 2008 in this case.

Haji Salim appealed against the verdict with the HC on 25 October, 2009. On 2 January, 2011, the HC acquitted Haji Salim.

Then, the ACC appealed against the verdict to the Appellate Division. The Appellate Division in an order on 12 January, 2015, scrapped the HC verdict and directed a hearing in the HC again.

But so far, none of the parties has taken initiative to hear the appeal.

Recently, Irfan Salim, son of Haji Salim, was arrested in connection with the beating of a naval officer. Consequently, questions arose on the role of ACC in the case of Haji Salim. In this situation, the ACC took initiative to hear Haji Salim's appeal.