News Desk :
A Dhaka court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing on charge framing in Niko graft case against BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and others till January 18, reports BSS.
Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman of Dhaka Ninth Special Judge Court passed the order as the prime accused Begum Khaleda Zia remained absent as she is undergoing treatment at hospital. Allowing a time plea of the defence, the court adjourned the hearing till January 18. Due to her illness, trials in all the cases against her have remained stalled for months.
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 Tk13,000 crore of state exchequer by that deal.
The other accused in the case are Barrister Moudud Ahmed, 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.
