Hearing in Niko graft case against Khaleda Zia on Sept 3

A Dhaka court on Tuesday (August 20) set September 3 for holding a hearing in the Niko graft case against BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and seven others.

Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman of Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-9 set the new date as no witnesses appeared in court today.

Meanwhile, the BNP Chairperson could not appear in the court due to her illness. On behalf of her, her lawyer appeared in the court.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) 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 incurring a loss of more than Tk13,000 crore of state exchequer by that deal.

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

The court on March 19, 2023, framed charges against the eight, dropping the names of Moudud Ahmed, AKM Mosharraf Hossain, and Md Shafiur Rahman as they died of natural causes.