Niko graft case against Khaleda Zia others, testimony completed

Khaleda Zia on Way to hospital late Monday night.

The complainant in the Niko graft case against BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and seven others, today completed submission of his testimony in the case.

Mohammad Mahbubul Alam, then Assistant Director of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), earlier submitted his testimony as first prosecution witness (PW) on May 23. On Tuesday, after end of his deposition, the defense started cross-examining him.

After the end of Tuesday’s proceedings, Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman of the Special Judge Court-9 of Dhaka adjourned the hearing till September 17at the Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj.

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

Begum 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 the 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 a loss of more than Taka 13,000 crore to the state exchequer by signing the deal.

As three accused- Barrister Moudud Ahmed, AKM Mosharraf Hossain and M Shafiur Rahman died of natural causes, they were dropped from the case, leaving the eight other accused to face the trial. – Special Correspondent