Niko graft case: Court allows ACC to produce FBI official, Canadian cops as witnesses
Staff Reporter :
A Dhaka court on Sunday allowed the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to produce an official of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and two officials of Royal Canadian Mounted Police as witnesses in the Niko graft case.
The officials are Debra LaPrevotte Griffith of FBI and Kelvin Duggan and Lloyd Schoepp of Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Judge of the Special Judge’s Court-9 in Dhaka, Sheikh Hafizur Rahman, passed the order after a hearing from the prosecution and defence on an application submitted by the ACC on September 12.
Later, the judge set October 10 for the next proceedings of the case.
Attorney General AM Amin Uddin on September 12 submitted
the application with the court seeking permission to produce the three officials as witnesses in the case.
Meanwhile, the defense lawyers said they will move the High Court against the court order allowing ACC to produce foreign officials as witnesses.
Lawyers Aminul Islam, Syed Zainal Abedin Mesbah, Zia Uddin Zia appeared for the accused including BNP Chairperson, while Attorney General AM Amin Uddin represented the state and lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan appeared for the ACC.
Attorney General said, “When the investigation of the Niko corruption case was continuing in our country, the FBI of the United States and the Royal Mounted Police of Canada also investigated the corruption allegation.
Later, through Mutual Legal Assistance, they sent us their investigation reports.
Later, we prayed to the court to allow the investigators as witnesses in the case.
After holding hearing from both the sides, the court allowed the petition. Now the foreign witnesses will be produced in the court in the case.”
Advocate Aminul Islam said, “In order to produce a foreign witness in a case, an application must be placed under the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, 2012.
However, the petition which was granted today (Sunday) was made under Section 540 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
We have said that this section does not say anything about foreign witnesses. However, the court allowed the application.
We are of the view that the Court has not properly considered in granting the order regarding the petition.
This order has no legal basis. We are aggrieved by this order.
My client (Khaleda Zia) will get redress if he appeals to the High Court against this order.”
On March 19, the same court framed charges against Khaleda and seven others.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case in December 2007 over charges that Khaleda and 10 others abused power to award a gas exploration and extraction deal to Canadian Company Niko when she was Prime Minister between 2001 and 2006.
A charge sheet was submitted to the court against 11 persons on May 5 in 2008 in the case. Allegation of causing a financial loss of about Tk 137.77 billion to the state was brought in the charge sheet.
Three of the accused in the case, including former State Minister for Energy and BNP leader AKM Mosharraf Hossain and former Law Minister Moudud Ahmed, died earlier.
Their names were dropped from the charges of case.
