Niko case against Khaleda Zia, complainant starts testifying

Khaleda Zia under medical treatment.

A Dhaka court today started recording the depositions of prosecution witness in the Niko graft case against BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and seven others.

Complainant of the case and the then Assistant Director of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) started testifying on Tuesday. He is the first Prosecution Witness (PW) of the case.

Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman of the Special Judge Court-9 of Dhaka recorded the depositions of the witness at his court in the Central Jail of Keraniganj. At the end of today's proceedings, the court adjourned the hearing till June 20 as the witness could not conclude his deposition on Tuesday.

The court on March 19 of this year, framed charges against the accused people.

Khaleda Zia, who is now on bail, pleaded not guilty through her lawyer Masud Ahmed Talukder on that day and demanded justice from the court.

The anti-graft body ACC filed the case against five, including Begum Khaleda Zia, with Tejgaon Model 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 of 2008, submitted the charge-sheet of the case against 11 people, including Begum Khaleda Zia. The ACC accused them of causing a loss of more than Taka 13 thousand crore to national exchequer by signing that deal.

The other accused in the case include Barrister Moudud Ahmed, AKM Mosharraf Hossain, Kamal Uddin Siddiqui and businessman Gias Uddin Al Mamun. - Special Correspondent