Charge hearing in Khaleda’s Niko graft case adjourned

Court Correspondent :
A Dhaka court yesterday adjourned the hearing on charge framing in Niko graft case filed against BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and others till October 5.
Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman of the Ninth Special Judge’s Court of Dhaka passed the order as the defence started their part of hearing but failed to conclude it on Tuesday.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case against five persons 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 Begum Khaleda Zia. The ACC accused them of incurring a loss of more than Taka 13 thousand crore to state exchequer through that deal.
The other accused people in the case are late Barrister Moudud Ahmed, late AKM Mosharraf Hossain, Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, Khandaker Shahidul Islam, CM Eusuf Hossain, Mir Moinul Haque, Md Shafiur Rahman, Gias Uddin Al Mamun, MAH Selim and Kashem Sharif.
As Barrister Moudud Ahmed and AKM Mosharraf Hossain died, their names have been dropped from the case.
Khaleda Zia is now in her house at Gulshan upon an executive order of the government, while three other BNP leaders are on bail. And three others have been absconding since case was filed.