Verdict in Khaleda’s Niko graft case on Feb 19

A Dhaka court today fixed February 19 to deliver verdict in the Niko graft case against eight people including BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia.

Judge Md Rabiul Alam of the Special Judge’s Court-4 of Dhaka set the new date as the defence lawyer concluded placing arguments in the case on Thursday (February 13).

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 Tk 13,000 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 already.