Indictment Hearing in Khaleda’s Niko Graft Case January 5

On Tuesday 5 January, a Dhaka court set up a hearing on the framing of charges in the Niko corruption case against BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and others.   

This morning, in the newly built courtroom in front of Keraniganj Central Jail, Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman of the Dhaka 9th Special Judge Court passed the order, reports media.

The hearing on charge framing in the case was expected to take place today, but the prime defendant Begum Khaleda Zia failed to appear on health grounds before the court and made her counsel Advocate Ziauddin Zia plead for time.

Allowing the defence plea, the court then adjourned the hearing till January 5.

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 Taka 13 thousand crore of state exchequer by that deal.