HC turns down Khaleda’s plea seeking cancellation of charge framing in Niko graft case

The High Court on Wednesday dismissed BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia‍‍`s plea seeking cancellation of the order of framing charges against her  by the trial court in the Niko graft case. 

High Court bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Md Aminul Islam passed the order after hearing the revision petition in this regard, said Anti-Corruption Commissioner’s (ACC) Counsel Khurshid Alam.

With this there is no obstacle to continue the case in the trail court.

Senior lawyer AJ Mohammad Ali and BNP’s Law Affairs Secretary Barrister Kaisar Kamal stood for the BNP chairperson and Attorney General A M Aminuddin  and Additional Attorney General Mehedi Hasan Chowdhury represented the state in the court.

Senior Advocate Mohammad Khurshid Alam Khan was there on behalf of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). On December 9, 2007, the Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case accusing Khaleda and four others of causing a loss of Tk 137.77 billion to the state by signing an oil and gas exploration deal with Canadian company Niko on behalf of the state that was deemed against Bangladesh‍‍`s national interests and swayed by graft.

The anti-graft body pressed charges in court against 11 people, including Khaleda, in May 2008.

The other accused in the case are former principal secretary Kamal Uddin Siddique, Khandaker Shahidul Islam, CM Yusuf Hossain, former Bapex general manager Mir Mainul Haq, Giasuddin Al Mamun, former parliamentarian MAH Selim and former vice-president of South Asia affairs of Niko Kashem Sharif.

Among the accused, BNP Standing Committee Member Barrister Moudud Ahmed, former state minister AKM Mosharraf Hossain and former secretary of Bapex Shafiur Rahman died during the trial proceedings.

Khaleda was sent to the Old Dhaka Central Jail as a lower court sentenced her to five years‍‍` imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on February 8, 2018. Later, she was found guilty and convicted in another corruption case the same year.

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government temporarily freed Khaleda Zia from jail through an executive order suspending her sentence on March 25, 2020, with the condition that she stay in her Gulshan house and not leave the country.