Hearing of Niko graft case against Khaleda adjourned till Aug 22

A Dhaka court today adjourned till August 22 the hearing of Niko graft case against BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and seven others.

Today was fixed for continuing recording the deposition of plaintiff of the case and then assistant director of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Mohammad Mahbubul Alam, but the defence pleaded for time, saying they have filed an appeal with the High Court, challenging the legality of framing of charges in the case.

Allowing the defence plea, Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman of Dhaka Special Judge‍‍`s Court-9 at Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj adjourned the hearing till August 22.

The court on May 23 started recording deposition of the witnesses and the plaintiff Mohammad Mahbubul Alam started testifying as prosecution witness-1 on that day and continued for second day on June 20. He is yet to conclude his deposition.

Earlier on March 19, 2023, the court framed charges against the accused. Khaleda, who is now on bail, pleaded not guilty through her lawyer Masud Ahmed Talukder on that day and demanded justice.

The other accused in the case are- Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, Khandaker Shahidul Islam, CM Eusuf Hossain, Mir Moinul Haque, Gias Uddin Al Mamun, Selim Bhuiyan, and Kashem Sharif.

The anti-graft body filed the case against five including Begum Khaleda Zia with Tejgaon police station on December 9, 2007, for abusing power in signing a deal with Canadian company Niko for exploring and extracting gas.

The ACC on May 5, 2008, submitted the charge-sheet against 11 people including Khaleda Zia. The ACC accused them of causing the incurring a loss of more than Taka 13 thousand crore to state exchequer by signing that deal.

As the three accused-Barrister Moudud Ahmed, AKM Mosharraf Hossain, and Md Shafiur Rahman died of natural causes, they were discharged from the case, leaving the eight other accused to face justice.