Niko graft case: ACC asked to produce all witnesses by Sept 12

A Dhaka court has directed the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to produce all witnesses, including the investigation officer (IO), before the court by September 12 in the Niko graft case filed against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and others.

Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman of the Special Judge Court-9 in Dhaka passed this order on Sunday (September 8).

On behalf of the ACC, Public Prosecutor Fatema Khanam appealed for time as no witness appeared before the court to testify in the case.

On the other hand, the lawyers of Khaleda Zia appealed to close the witness orally.

During the hearing, the lawyers said, “The ACC did not produce the witnesses on the last three fixed dates. This is how they harass the accused. Therefore, the accused should be acquitted by closing the witnesses in the case. After the hearing, the judge summoned all the witnesses on September 12.”

Khaleda’s lawyer Abdul Hannan Bhuiyan confirmed the matter.

According to court sources, the testimonies of two people including the plaintiff in the case have already been completed. Former BAPEX managing director Md Abdul Baki testified partially.

The ACC filed a case against 11, including Begum Khaleda Zia, with Tejgaon police station on December 9, 2007, for abusing power in signing a deal with Canadian company Niko to explore and extract gas.

On May 5, 2008, ACC 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.

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