Niko graft case against Khaleda Zia, 7 others deferred to Jul 25

Khaleda Zia on Way to hospital late Monday night.

A Dhaka court today adjourned till July 25 the hearing of Niko graft case against BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and seven others.

Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman of Special Judge’s Court-9 of Dhaka at the Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj passed the order as the complainant of the case and then Assistant Director of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Mohammad Mahbubul Alam continued submitting his depositions in the case as first Prosecution Witness (PW).

The court on May 23 started recording the depositions of the witness and had adjourned hearing till June 20 as the PW-1 failed to conclude his testimony on that day.

Earlier on March 19, the court framed charges against the accused. Khaleda Zia, 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 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, 2008, submitted the charge sheet of the case against 11 people including Khaleda Zia. The ACC accused them of causing loss of more than Taka 13 thousand crore to state exchequer by signing that deal. - Special Correspondent